A DARING mother and son in the U.S. have hand-raised 14 bears in their back garden.

Monica Welde and her son, Johnny IV, spend their days rolling around with bears that weigh up to 454 kilograms, in Bearadise Ranch, Florida.

The Welde family have looked after grizzly bears, black bears and polar bears in need in the last 91 years with their license.

But the family tradition came under threat in 2016 when Welde’s husband, Johnny III, died of a heart attack just after he turned 60. With the help of her son, Welde was able to continue the family legacy caring for their beloved pet bears.

Welde said: “It’s been a huge loss on our family and our bears. I know the bears miss him, they do notice his absence.

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

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

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

Since then, they have appeared in movies for Walt Disney and have been trained for a number of television shows.

Johnny IV says of the bears: “They are like family to me, I see them everyday so they’re just my siblings basically.

“To us, they are very safe. They are not big on strangers which is understandable. We have raised them, so to us they are very, very sweet.”

Welde says the bears have never attacked anyone, but necessary precautions are taken. Welde said: “I do have a few scars from their claws. That’s natural, they are very powerful animals.”

(SD-Agencies)