Colorado Bear Happily Invades Home, Eats Dog Food, Herbs

GRANBY, Colo. — A western Colorado woman said a "very graceful, very calm" bear crawled into her house through a pet door, ate a bowl of dog food, uprooted some herbs in pots and then left after about 10 minutes. Brenda Freeman said the encounter occurred Saturday at her and her husband's home.

Freeman said they spotted the bear in their mudroom after their 120-pound dog let out a combination bark and growl. They closed the door from the mudroom to the kitchen, then watched through a window as the bear explored the room and chowed down.

Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said bears normally eat berries this time of year, but a wet spring has kept bushes flowering longer instead of producing fruit.

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Information from: Steamboat Pilot & Today, http://steamboatpilot.com/

Comments

[Wilburrr]

11:49 AM on 06/21/2009

Bears that are this comfortable around humans will eventually have to be destroyed. These are considered "Class 3" interactions, do not represent natural bear behavior, and inevitably lead to more aggressive, dangerous encounters. What would have happened had the dog showed up to defend his food? The bear, learning from this experience will now be more active and engaging in efforts to get an easy meal. When the bear displays aggressive behavior toward humans this becomes something other than just a cute bear story. The adage that "A fed bear is a dead bear" is entirely accurate here, but I was censored when I posted it previously.

[Pema]

10:42 AM on 06/20/2009

I just got back from yosemite thurs, i saw three bears, i was surprised at how they wernt the least bit afraid of me nor did they go after me....i kept thinking it was the hideous lime green shirt i had on that scared them off...

[picard922]

09:52 AM on 06/19/2009

Bears are omnivores; they eat everything.

[wadenelson1]

06:57 PM on 06/17/2009

This really isn't news. It happens all the time in Colorado. They may not use the dog door, usually it's an open garage door and an open bag of dog food. It was amusing when it happened to a friend of mine and the bear opened the freezer and enjoyed some crab legs and frozen nuts. Too bad he broke several of the shelves.

[dm10003]

01:11 PM on 06/18/2009

it'd be a surprise only if the house was downtown.