When Katrina, an animal advocate in Central Florida, heard a local restaurant owner was worried about the well-being of bears near her restaurant, Highway 19, she turned to Waste Pro for help.

Bear Trash Can Katrina did some research and discovered the restaurant’s owner, Bonnie, had issues with her trash provider and was concerned bears would get into the trash and be killed. Last month, Katrina met with Susie Dolan, Waste Pro’s Director of Community Affairs and Government Relations in Central Florida, to work on bear-saving initiatives.

Waste Pro is now providing trash service to Highway 19 and delivered seven new trash cans. Katrina provided bear-resistant strap kits to the restaurant to prevent bears from getting into the trash.

“Now, those bears will not be labeled as ‘nuisances’ or ‘habituated’ for eating from trash cans and will hopefully move on to find natural food sources in the Ocala National Forest,” Katrina said in a Facebook post.