Watch as this enormous black bear makes a Pennsylvania garbage hauler his own personal food truck – before being driven to a police station for help.
Typically, the garbage truck only comes to the Carbon County Police Station for trash pickup. This Wednesday morning, however, the sanitation service was in desperate need of a drop-off.
The cargo? A huge black bear.
Local news station WNEP reports that the bear rode the top of the truck all the way to the Kidder Township police station. Thanks to a few quick-thinking officers, the situation was handled with help from a few trees.
The garbage crew was able to back the truck up towards a cluster of evergreen trees. There, the bear was able to get down safely – and without harming himself or anyone else.
PA black bear complaints on the rise
While this may seem an unusual story, bear “complaints” are on the rise in PA. Significantly so, in fact. Officer Vincent Murrow tells WNEP that “It’s been pretty frequent, almost daily that we’re getting a new bear complaint in the area.”
One of the area’s recent bear encounters even includes a black bear getting into a car. While inside, it ate every bit of food left in the back seat.
As for this garbage-rodeo bear?
“We can only assume it was sick of going for the small, small amount of trash in the garbage pails and went for the big prize,” Murrow laughs to WNEP.
Photos reveal huge black bear on top of garbage truck
While black bears are typically shy and non-aggressive, they are overly-curious. They can, however, be extremely dangerous, and should never be approached. This tends to get them in a lot of trouble around populated areas.
To help clarify, WNEP spoke to Katherine Uhler of the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Uhler tells the station that “bears are very active and hungry in this time prior to hibernation, consuming about 20,000 calories per day. But the pandemic is contributing to the number of bear sightings.”
“Part of it is because of COVID people are outside a lot, and that moves bears around, so there are a lot of bear sightings,” Uhler continues.
The wildlife expert also stresses for anyone who sees a black bear – to avoid it. Never approach, and always treat wild animals as unpredictable.
For full coverage of the sighting, WNEP has full coverage of the incident.
[H/T WNEP]
