‘Real life Pokémon battle’: Video shows Florida bear fighting off two large alligators

A Florida kayaker came across what he described as a “real life Pokemon battle,” when a black bear decided to take a dip in a river filled with alligators.

In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, June 4, by DeBary resident Tyler Futrell, a brave black bear can be seen swimming across the St. John’s River, near the High Banks marina and the mouth of the Wekiva River.

A few seconds into the clip a large alligator attacks the bear from the front. “Alligator coming to say, ‘Hi,’” says Futrell in the video. The bear then fights off the gator only to be attacked by another one before safely climbing out of the water on the opposite side of the river.

“When he got out, he just seemed kind’ve annoyed,” Futrell said on social media. 

Futrell told WKMG that he filmed the “real life Pokémon battle” from 80-100 feet away while in his 10-foot kayak.  “I grew up around here, so I’m pretty used to seeing hogs and whatever. But a bear is a pretty rare sight, so it didn’t even cross my mind,” Futrell told the station.

Even though there are roughly 1.3 million alligators in the state of Florida, and they can be found in all 67 counties, a matchup between a gator and a bear is in fact pretty rare, let alone catching the incident on video.

Florida black bears are not generally aggressive, but like any wild animal, if they feel threatened, can become defensive, says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

But in terms of size, a large bear can certainly square up with an alligator. Florida bears can average between 250-450 pounds, while the average weight of a gator is between 200-300 pounds, according to the FWC. However, the state record for a bear is just 760 pounds, while the record for a gator is 1,043 pounds.

This time of year is also when young Florida black bears are on the move, as they leave their mothers’ ranges and seek out their own territory. 

“Juvenile or yearling bears – between the ages of 1½ -2½ – start dispersing in spring and summer each year,” said the FWC’s Bear Management Program Coordinator, Mike Orlando. “The best thing people can do if they see a bear in an unexpected area is to give them plenty of space and to never approach or feed them and they will typically move along on their own.”

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This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2024.