Police in Florida are urging people to stop taking selfies with a “depressed” black bear spotted loitering morosely on a roadside.
The unhappy animal took up residence on the north side of Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach earlier this week and, according to a Facebook post by the Walton county sheriff’s office, quickly attracted unwanted attention from passing motorists.
“Onlookers were trying to take selfies with the bear and he’s clearly not in the mood for pictures. The bear has shown signs of severe stress,” the post said.
It described the large male bear as “stressed, depressed, lemon zest” and urged the public not to approach a black bear at any time, “especially those that are showing aggression like this big fella”.
Rangers from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) were dispatched to investigate after a call from the sheriff’s office reported “crowds of onlookers stopping to take photos of the bear”, which was sitting beside a telegraph pole.
An FWC spokesperson said in a statement that by the time its officers and biologists arrived, “the bear had dispersed and walked off into the adjacent woods”.
It said that, based on images shared with staff: “The bear did not appear to be injured. It may have just been overheated and was resting before moving on.”
Black bears are a common sight in many areas of Florida, especially in the spring and summer when juveniles begin to leave their mothers’ home ranges and seek out new habitats.
“Typically, bears will move along on their own. If you see a bear, give it space, don’t try to approach it, and never feed it,” the spokesperson said, pointing to the advice website bearwise.org.
“Crowding around any bear is never recommended, as bears can become defensive when threatened. Always give bears as much space as possible.”
In February, a homeowner in Santa Rosa Beach recorded a video of a black bear walking through her yard and knocking on the front door. Other recent encounters elsewhere in Florida have included a bear touring the campus of the University of Florida in June; and the capture and relocation of a black bear in May after it was spotted roaming Fort Myers downtown. Authorities said in every case the bear involved was looking for food.
There are an estimated 4,050 black bears living in the wild in Florida, according to FWC figures.
Last month Ron DeSantis, the state’s rightwing Republican governor, signed into law a controversial bill that allows the public to shoot and kill bears for a perceived threat to “a person, pet or dwelling”.
The legislation was drawn up by the Republican state congressman Jason Shoaf, a keen hunter according to his biography, who claimed in February that “bears high on crack” were breaking into people’s houses and “tearing them apart”.
At the time the Guardian was unable to find a single documented incident of any bear in Florida ingesting crack, and Shoaf did not return a request for clarification.
