Wildlife watchers can now add a bear doing the breast stroke in Lake Lanier to their list of unusual sightings.

Panama City, Fla. resident Brandon Waldrip said he saw a large black bear swimming in Lake Lanier about three miles south of the Ga. 52 bridge on June 27. His wife, Michelle Waldrip, snapped photos of the bear from aboard the couple’s jet ski.

"We saw something swimming across the water and didn’t know what it was, but then we saw it was a bear when we got closer to it," Brandon Waldrip said. "... We saw it run up through the woods and it was a fairly good size. We were actually shocked at how big it was."

Waldrip estimates the bear weighed between 300 and 400 pounds. He said he saw the bear in an area far from any houses.

"I grew up on Lake Lanier and have never seen one there before," he said.

The bear sighting comes after numerous reports this summer of a large cat, perhaps a mountain lion, roaming the woods near the Hall-Lumpkin county line.

Scott Frazier, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, said northern Hall County marks the southern end of the Eastern Black Bear’s general range, but the 1,500 bears living in North Georgia typically reside north of Hall. He said there are also some smaller isolated black bear populations living in the Macon area and near the Okefenokee Swamp.

And Georgia’s black bear population is growing, he said.

Frazier said it’s not unusual for a black bear to pass through the Hall County area searching for food, but to catch them swimming is a rare sight.

"It’s less common for them to get in the water, but they do," he said. "They’re swimming more to get across the water than to cool off and relax. It’s more about getting from point A to point B."

Frazier said if you encounter a bear, it’s best to keep your eye on it from a respectful distance at least 100 feet away. He said black bears are "typically very flighty," but may learn to associate people with food.

To keep people and bears safe, Frazier cautions not to feed bears or leave food, even birdseed, in your yard if a bear has been spotted in your neighborhood.

"Bears are led by their stomach. So long as you don’t feed them, they will move on," he said.

Waldrip said he thought it was "neat" to see a bear in the lake, and has come to expect such encounters with wildlife when in non-urban environments.

"It’s part of it," he said. "If you live in North Georgia, you’re going to see wildlife. It’s like living in Florida — we have gators."