grizzly bears
The bear was found having a sound sleep in front of the Florida family's doorstep - Representational Image REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

A Florida couple found an uninvited guest at their doorstep on Friday (28 July). When Warren Woodard from Longwood came home, his wife told him to take a look at a massive black bear that was snoozing.

Woodard told News4: "I went around to the garage and my wife -- we met at the garage door, and she said, 'Come here a minute.'".

"There's a bear lying at the door asleep,'' his wife told Woodard but he did not believe her.

"Sure enough, he was lying there, looked like he was asleep," he said.

Woodard said the bear was around six to seven feet long and it seemed comfortable. He was seen resting against the door with his paws in the air.

He said the bear might have come in to avoid the rain as there was heavy storm the night before.

"I think the bear had got caught up in it, and here's a nice dry place," Woodard said. "I guess if the door wasn't there, he probably would have gone in the house."

The bear was in such sound sleep that even a community officer's car failed to awaken the animal. "A community police officer came first and that car wouldn't come in the driveway," Woodard said.

The bear only stirred after a second police car arrived in the form of back-up. "She (the officer) must have made some kind of noise, because at that point, the bear jumped up and took off," he added.

Woodard said he got a quick warning from the officer who told him ''Look out!''

"He ran right toward me. So I ran back around and into the garage," he exclaimed.

"If I had walked around that corner, and the car was parked here and seen that bear lying there, it might have had me at the hospital," Woodard added.