Bear Attempts, Fails to Break into Home Through Cat Door
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.18.15
One black bear near Schweitzer Mountain just refused to believe it was too big for a cat door. Lured by the promise of Toblerone bars and brownie mix, Doug Harder said a bear visited his condo in Sandpoint, Idaho several times last week, attempting to break into his house through a tiny cat door.
“It came to the cat door Thursday night, trying again and again to get through, which is when I took the photo,” Harder wrote on Facebook.
Harder had seen the bear before in May, when it and the rest of its family camped outside his porch and raided his birdseed. He believed the same bear was also involved in a break-in—a more successful one—last Wednesday that left his condo a disaster zone.
“Got home last Wednesday night to a mess, a bear pushed open the sliding glass door I had open while I was gone a few days, even a wood block in the door jam keeping it only open about 8 inches,” Harder wrote.
The bears seemed to have a sweet tooth, devouring Toblerone bars, brownie mix, and even turning over Harder’s bedroom for cans of soda. Strangely enough, they also consumed an amount of flour as well. To add insult to injury, Harder says the bears ended their night by defecating all over his carpet.
“It took about 2 hours with a carpet cleaner to clean it up,” he noted.
The young bear returned on Friday and once again tried to enter through the cat door, but ultimately realized it was a lost cause and left. Harder said he notified Idaho Fish and Wildlife of the incident but holds no grudge against the bears. It has been a dry year in many parts of Idaho and bears are having trouble finding food. The animals come into inhabited areas looking for an easy meal, such as unsecured garbage or birdseed. This leads to conflicts with humans and officials often have to step in to relocate or euthanize bears who have become a nuisance.
“I don’t want them to kill the bears; I just want them relocated,” Harder said. “If they don’t take care of them someone else might.”
