With warmer months coming to an end,?? ??? ?? bears and other animals that hibernate are trying to pack on as much weight as they can before winter. Which means that bears may be a little bolder than usual.
Recently, Willem Zuur of New York had a long encounter with a younger black bear which ended up on his property in search for some food. While Zuur eventually did scare away the bear, his interaction is a perfect example of what notto do when you see a bear.
While black bears are less aggressive than grizzly bears, they have been known to attack humans and have killed upwards of 60 people since 1900. While this number may seem low, black bears are not an animal you want hanging around your yard, especially if you have young kids like Zuur.
You May Also Like
SEE ALSO: Group of hungry grizzly bears terrorize Canadian family
After talking to the bear like it's a sweet puppy, Zuur finally decides it's time to actually scare the bear away. Unfortunately his first method is to go outside of his house, yell at the bear and chase it away using a broom.
Eventually, Zuur decides that shooting some bottle rockets is a better plan, but the first firework malfunctions and hits him in the ribs.
CARD ID: 90460
Unfortunately, the commotion just gets the bear curious, and it comes closer to the home.
"Yeah, this not safe. He's definitely not afraid of me," Zuur says to someone off camera.
Zuur shrugs off the bear because "he's just a black bear" and when the person off camera tries to tell him that there have been cases of black bears attacking if they're hungry, Zuur admits to feeding the bear.
"I just fed him, though," Zuur responds.
UPDATE: Sept. 20, 2016, 5:55 p.m. EDT Zuur claims that he did not feed the bear and in this statement he was referencing unintentionally feeding the bear with seed and trash.
Eventually after some door slamming and yelling, Zuur manages to shoot off another rocket which sends the bear running.
Whatever you do, don't feed the bears. It leads to them losing their fear in humans and pursuing human food, which causes injury, property damage and "problem bears" according to the National Parks Service.
If you do see a bear, you should try to safely scare it immediately with loud noises.
"The intent is not to harm the bear, but to scare it from the area and restore its natural fear of people by providing a negative experience," says the National Parks Service.