Knock knock. Who’s there? It’s a bear.


 

Spring is in the air and bears are waking up from their lengthy naps, hungry and active. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently shared a video on their Facebook page of a bear opening a screen door in an attempt to enter a local resident’s home.

The footage, taken from a home security camera, shows the bear casually strolling up the front steps and confidently pulling down the handle of the screen door, all the while checking over its shoulder to make sure it doesn’t get busted. Once the house-invader successfully gets the door ajar, the bear has the sense to step back to let the door swing open. It then holds it open while assessing its next obstacle: another door. This proves too much and the bear quickly aborts its mission.

It’s clear in the video that this is not the bear’s first rodeo and it evidently has some experience opening doors. There have also been recent reports of bears braking into cars. One person commented on the video post, “Keep your car and house doors locked! My son had a bear open three car doors.”

Bears are certainly not on the prowl for jewellery and electronics and only have one post-nap concern: food. The fuzzy giants have come to associate humans with dishing out decent hauls of yummy food that's usually quite easy to get their paws on. Humans are increasingly encroaching on bear territories, which is bound to raise the number of human-bear conflict incidents. This, unfortunately, is bad news for both parties.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation warns local residents to avoid putting out bird feeders and leaving out pet food. One of the biggest draws for paws is open trash containers, which should be secured tightly to avoid unwanted dinner guests.

Top header image: Dan Hutcheson, Flickr