A family in Colorado Springs woke up to an unexpected guest in their kitchen: a bear. The incident, which took place in July, was captured on their security cameras on July 21. The footage shows the bear entering the kitchen and grabbing a quick snack.
Nerissa England recounted the event, saying, “I was getting ready in the morning and heard a bang. I asked my kids — 8, 6, and 3 years old — if they were all okay, and they were upstairs playing.” She initially thought a picture had fallen.
“My curious 8-year-old daughter, Zara Lee, went downstairs to investigate, and my husband followed to grab coffee. She rounded the corner into our kitchen, and a bear was eating our trash right outside the kitchen door,” England explained.
The bear entered through an open back door, left ajar for ventilation during the hot weather. It initially ate some Flintstones vitamins on the table, then dragged a trash can outside, rummaging through it.
Zara Lee and her father managed to scare the bear away by making loud noises and opening the door. England noted, “We will be keeping the door shut for a while until the local bears get the food they need and go into hibernation!”
Incidents like these have been rising across the United States. Bears, lacking their usual food sources due to a dry winter, have been drawn by their strong sense of smell to areas with human food. This has unfortunately led to increased bear fatalities, as many have faced lethal encounters with humans. Reuters reports record bear deaths, with bears being euthanized, run over, or shot as they venture into populated areas.