Deadliest Catch

Photo: All photos courtesy of Becky Bickerstaff

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Adam Warwick holds a 375-pound male black bear's head above water as he guides the tranquilized animal back to shore. The bear was wandering through the Florida Panhandle beachfront neighborhood of Alligator Point and started swimming in Gulf water after being hit by the dart. FWC staff and bystanders used a borrowed backhoe to lift the uninjured animal from the water so it could be transported to the Osceola National Forest in North Central Florida and released.