Bear Wanders Into Oregon Woman’s Living Room, Trashes Bookshelf

A woman in Oregon woke up to find a surprise late-night visitor in her living room. The 78-year-old woman, who possibly did not latch her front door before going to sleep, found a 160-pound (72-kilogram) bear that had wandered into her house in an incident that occurred last week.

The Baker City Herald reported that the bear knocked over a bookshelf but didn't harm the woman, Jan Smith, whose house is in a forest near Sumpter, Oregon. “I just started shaking,” Smith told the newspaper Thursday morning after the 3-year-old bear was discovered. It is not clear for how long the bear was at Smith’s house before it left.

Smith said she was not very clear about how the bear had entered the house but thought she either forgot to shut the door or that it didn’t latch because the door was not damaged. Smith laughingly described the incident as “exciting,” and said she would close the door more firmly from now. “You can be darned sure that door will be locked good,” she said.

Officials of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office visited Smith’s house Thursday morning and set up a trap on the property

Reports said the 3-year-old male bear was trapped and euthanized by state wildlife officials late last week. It was also revealed that it was the same bear that was shot in the face last month by another resident who found it on his front porch.

This is also the third bear to be trapped and killed around Sumpter since Sept. 23.

Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at ODFW’s Baker City office said a dry summer and limited supply of berries is what may have prompted the bears to venture into areas populated by humans.

“All they’re trying to do is put on weight as fast as they can” as they prepare to hibernate, usually around mid-November, Ratliff said. He added that the bears get enticed by garbage cans that the residents fail to store inside buildings, sometimes even keeping stocked refrigerators and freezers outdoors.

A similar incident took place in Wyoming in July in which a man woke from a nap to discover a bear inside his home. Max Breiter said the animal "took two poops" before leaving the house.

"At first I thought it was a dog," Breiter told the Jackson Hole News and Guide, "but I started to wake up and realize it was a bear."

"The bear walked into the living room and took two poops on the floor," Breiter added, "and then it broke out of a screen window and proceeded to run down the hill."

A Utah man also encountered a bear the same month. Bob Anderson of Park City told reporters he was eating a sandwich when he discovered a bear inside his home.

"I'm about done with the sandwich and I look up and the bear is on that landing right there looking at me," Anderson told KSTU-TV. "I ran over and said 'shoo, shoo' and the bear got up and started walking out the garage." The bear wreaked havoc in Anderson’s kitchen before escaping by jumping from his deck to a tree.