After living in Fort Lauderdale Florida for over 40 years, my husband and I moved to Naples Florida in the Golden Gate Estates area. We love this area because it is natural and, far away from the city. We purchased 5 acres and, had our house built.

Everyday is so exciting because you never know what you will see. We left the woods behind our house just the way it is. There are natural bear paths in our woods, where we walk everyday. We see black bears come through, white tailed deer and, wild turkeys. It is so much fun living here.

The first year we lived here I put out a bird feeder. I did not realize it would attract more than just the birds. We had black bear moms coming into our backyard with their cubs. It was fun but, we had so many bears I was scared to leave the car doors open when I had groceries to bring into the house. In fact, one day we had 7 bears visit. A mama and two real young cubs, a mama and two full grown cubs and, one lonely bear.

One day we went for our daily walk with our two dogs. One dog we didn't have on a leash and, when we came around to the back yard she flew down to where two cubs were and, out from the woods a mama bear jumped out, landed almost on top of my dog. My dog squeeled, we squeeled and, the mama bear and, cubs ran off. Thank God my dog wasn't hurt, a little scrape on her hind end. After that, we removed all the bird feeders from the yard.

Yes, the bears still walk through occasionally but, they are not homesteading on our property. The moral to this story is, "Don't feed the bears". If the bear has cubs, you never know what might happen. We are learning how to live with the wild life. It is still fun to look out the window and actually see a wild animal every now and then.