Eight meat pies. That’s what a bear devoured in front of a startled homeowner before fleeing the B.C. house it had somehow entered this past weekend.
In a seemingly too-wild-to-be-true moment between humans and animals, Colleen Linley said she was stunned to see a bear inside her Peachland home early Saturday morning.
The Okanagan resident figures a lower-level door to her home wasn’t properly secured, which allowed the inquisitive and likely hungry bruin to gain entry.
“I found out about the bear when my sister heard the deep freeze being tipped over,” Linley told Global News of the 5:45 a.m. incident. “And she came to my bedroom to wake me up to ‘better come and see this.’
WATCH BELOW (Aired May 14, 2019): Black bear climbs to second floor balcony for a snack
Linley said her initial reaction was “shock. I thought she was kidding me. But it was very much true and a very large bear.”
The bear, according to Linley, was in the house for approximately 10 minutes. In that time, the bear found its way into a small utility room, where it upended a small deep freeze, helping itself to eight frozen meat pies.
WATCH BELOW (Aired April 12, 2019): Be bear aware
“It was shocking and kind of scary,” said Linley. “You’re a little bit frustrated because you don’t want it to bolt on you.
“But we laugh about it now. But at the time, it was a little bit scary. It came in and stole eight meat pies from the Legion ladies in Rossland. It took them four steps down and sat and ate them in front of us.”
Peachland has had a recent increase in bear sightings — so much so that WildsafeBC has gone door-to-door to warn citizens and to encourage them to become more bear aware.