Bear Shocks Florida Beachgoers When It Swims Out Of Ocean

The craziest thing in Florida isn't the people, regardless of the headlines you see, it's the animals. I once heard someone say "Florida is the Australia of the United States - everything is deadly and in the last place you want it to be."

Social media exploded with videos showing the sudden shock a bunch of beachgoers hanging out in the Gulf of Mexico had when a beach animal that you would never guess would be catching a tan on a Florida beach.

The Destin-vacationers were seen standing along the beach and in the water when suddenly a young bear swam out of the water, onto the beach.

In one clip, the bear was swimming along, and one off-camera person says "I guess he’s on vacation, too!”

Typically you'd be unsurprised when someone at the beach would yell "SHARK!" but this time, once the bear got up to the shore, people started getting out of the way and shouting "BEAR!"

It apparently is just as weird of an event as you'd think, one person who shared video, Jennifer Majors Smith, said “Never have I ever….seen a black bear swim up out of the Gulf Coast and onto the beach (and I’m from Pensacola).”

“A man was yelling out ‘Bear!’ You would expect ‘Shark’ or ‘Dolphin’ but not ‘Bear.’ It came out of the Gulf and look tired but relieved,” she recounted. “We were all shocked by and amazed to see what we saw. We were all glad to see him safe from the water.”

However, Chris Kirby, a charter boat captain in the area, told AL.com it's not as uncommon as you'd think, and he's seen them a few times.

“There are a lot of bears at Eglin Air Force Base. They swim across the bay. Sometimes they go for a joy swim,” he said. “Everybody’s just got cellphones now and they get pictures.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there are more than an estimated 4,000 black bears in Florida.

Read more at NY Post