A black bear remains at large after entering a Juneau, Alaska home through an open door, smacking a man around, terrifying a family of 12, then tearing out a window to make its escape.
The frightening encounter occurred last weekend when the adult bear walked into the mobile home of Angela and Norman Lott while their friend Brandon McVey was visiting around 11 p.m. Friday, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
One of the Lott’s 10 children, a 2-year-old, reportedly reached out to touch the furry intruder, but was whisked away by his mom, who hid with the boy in a bedroom while his brothers and sisters took shelter where they could find it.
McVey and the children’s father tried scaring off the animal, but the bear didn’t frighten easily. Instead, it swatted the men away.
“He just jumped up and basically hit me, and then I kind of threw an elbow the same time he was hitting me, and he sat me right down,” McVey told the Anchorage paper.
McVey suffered three puncture wounds to his chest and was scratched-up as well. The family patriarch was also tossed aside by the bear, which ripped-up a wall, then pulled a window from its frame and wandered back outside.
Alaska Department of Fish and game Area biologist Roy Churchwell told the Anchorage Daily News that black bears usually avoid humans and when they do enter people’s homes, they tend to do so when no one is home.
Churchwell said there appear to be more black bears in Juneau than what’s normal and it seems there are fewer fish and berries for them to eat this season. He also wondered if a lack of tourism during the pandemic is making bears less skittish about roaming into town.
McVey suggests his neighbors keep their doors closed so bears don’t come looking for food.
“They’re getting wild out there,” he said.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game claims that 100,000 black bears call the state home. Males like the one that entered the Lott family’s abode reportedly measure five feet from nose to tail and weigh roughly 200 pounds.
“The tendency for black bears to take advantage of human food or garbage as alternative foods has been the greatest management problem within the Juneau area,” according to the department’s website.
