It was a sight more than he could bear. At least at first.
Home surveillance video shows a man lounging by a pool in Greenfield, Massachusetts, being startled by a curious bear this weekend. The video, shared on Facebook Sunday by Dawn Bete, is dated Saturday.
The bear can be seen wandering into the backyard and trying a sip of the pool water. The man is only a few yards away and appears to be sleeping, or at least doesn't react to the bear.
The bear notices him, though, and pads over to the man and his lounge chair. It sniffs his foot, then nudges it.
That's when the man starts up and grabs his phone. The bear runs off, then comes back briefly for one last look. The man, for his part, stays put in the lounge chair as he films.
By the way, here's the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's advice for what you should do if you see a bear in your backyard:
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If you see a black bear in your yard, enjoy the sighting, but be sure that you are not doing anything to attract the bear to your yard. Make noise by banging pots and pans, shouting, or using an air horn to try to scare the bear off. Once the bear has left the area, take a close look at your yard for potential bear food sources such as bird feeders, pet food, dirty barbeque grills, open compost, or trash and REMOVE those food sources IMMEDIATELY. Bears have incredible long-term memory will revisit places where they have found food, even months or years later. Bears that are frequently fed, either directly or indirectly through bird feeders or garbage, may completely lose their fear of people. If a bear then behaves in a way that is a threat to public safety it may be euthanized.
