ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A group of bears wandered around the campus of a Volusia County middle school Thursday, prompting teachers to keep students inside classrooms for a couple of hours.
- Bear, cubs wander around Florida middle-school campus
- Students were kept inside for 2 hours for their safety
- Central Florida has highest number of black bears in state
The mother bear and three cubs were spotted near portable classrooms at River Springs Middle School in Orange City just after 8 a.m., the Sheriff's Office said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was called in to monitor the bears, which foraged for food around the campus for a while.
The bears wandered off without incident just after 10 a.m., but students were kept indoors for their safety.
This was the second bear sighting in north Central Florida in a week. This past weekend, a bear got trapped in an SUV in a Seminole County neighborhood. That bear is thought to have killed a dog recently.
There are an estimated 1,200 black bears in Central Florida, an increase of 17 percent over the past 12 years, according to FWC. It's the largest population of black bears among the seven subpopulations across the state that FWC monitors.
