We have 14 bears... and no trouble bruin

A PROUD family of animal lovers happily spend their days looking after a gang of bears that lumber around their back yard.

For generations the grizzlies, black bears and polar bears have called Monica Welde’s Florida estate their home.

Monica and son Johnny currently care for 14 of them.

However, the family tradition came under threat last year when the senior member of the family and Monica’s husband, also called Johnny, died of a heart attack just after turning 60.

“It’s been a huge loss on our A GREEDY couple who siphoned off £166,000 which was meant to help pay for the care of the wife’s dementia-suffering mother have been jailed for two years.

Retired Elizabeth Ridd, 65, and her husband Peter, 68, instead went on a “caravan, cars and holidays” spree when she was put in charge of widow Betty Naylor’s finances.

Their fraud was branded “pure greed” by a judge this week.

Mrs Naylor, 89, had been moved into a care home when her home was sold for £213,000 in 2015.

Her daughter was put in charge of her financial affairs and should have used some of the money from the sale to pay for her care.

Instead, she and her husband transferred thousands of pounds into their bank accounts, gave chunks to their son and bought a £24,000 caravan.

The couple claimed the mobile home was to treat Mrs Naylor to holidays. But she was too ill to leave her care home.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that Hambleton District Council in North Yorkshire has been left to foot the bill for her care.

Elizabeth Ridd claimed to have been “over-zealous” in her spending, while her retired joiner husband allegedly “knew it was wrong in the back of his mind”.

Jailing the grandparents on Monday, Judge Simon BourneArton family and our bears. The bears miss him, they notice his absence,” she said.

“But our son and I decided to continue the family legacy and go on for my husband.

“Right now, we have 14 bears. Do I prefer bears to humans? Well actually, sometimes I do.”

The grandfather of husband Johnny introduced bears into the Welde family back in 1946.

Since then, they have appeared in films for Walt Disney and have been trained for several TV shows. His son Johnny said: “They are like family to me.

I see them every day so they’re just my siblings basically.

“To us, they are very safe. They are not big on strangers, which is understandable. But to us they are very, very sweet.”

Monica says the bears have never attacked anyone but precautions are taken.

She said: “I have a few scars from their claws.

“That’s natural, they’re powerful animals.”