Bear enters kitchen through window in Colorado home’s second bear intrusion in a month
A bear broke through a window to get food from a Colorado home’s kitchen — and it wasn’t the first time a bear intruded.
The bear entered the Aspen home at about 9:30 p.m. Monday by going through the locked window, Colorado Parks and Wildlife told McClatchy News on Thursday.
The animal made it to the kitchen for a snack before the homeowner blew an air horn. The bear got so scared, it broke through a basement window to leave the house, according to Parks and Wildlife.
The break-in wasn’t the homeowner’s first encounter with bears. The home sits on a hillside full of food for the bear, including serviceberries and oak brush.
“It is common to have bear activity,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife told McClatchy News in an email. “There is a cherry apple tree right on the driveway, so there are lots of natural food sources in the area for bears.”
Even though the homeowners “do a good job living in bear country,” bears have entered the home twice in one month. A bear also invaded in 2019 through doors that were dead-bolted and got into the refrigerator.
Wildlife officials said the homeowners aren’t attracting bears to their property and are doing the best they can to keep bears away.
“They do not have any unnatural attractants out and it was good to see they had the air horn available for them to use that night,” Parks and Wildlife said. “This is, in part, an aspect of living in bear country, but also is partly learned behavior by that bear.”
Bears’ noses are “100 times more sensitive” than humans, and they can smell food up to five miles away, Parks and Wildlife said on its website. They can also seek out trash that smells like food or scented products, such as air fresheners.
Bears will come back to a location where they’ve found food.
Bears have done damage when breaking into other homes in the West. In California, a bear wandered into a couple’s home and made a mess of their kitchen in April.
In March, a mother bear and her three cubs peeled the siding off a Kings Beach home and trashed part of the basement. They also broke a gas line.
Wildlife officials have warned that if a bear breaks into your home, you shouldn’t confront it.
“Most bears will quickly look for an escape route,” the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said on its website. “Move away to a safe place. Do not block exit points. If the bear does not leave, get to a safe place and call 911.”
Wildlife officials also offered the following tips to deter bears:
Don’t leave food scraps in your yard
Have a bear-proof garbage can
Don’t put out the trash until the morning it’s to be collected
Do not leave food in your vehicle
Do not spray bear spray near your property (It can attract bears once dried.)
Do not feed wildlife near your home
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Bear enters kitchen through window in Colorado home’s second bear intrusion in a month."