A home-security camera captured a hungry black bear committing a tasty crime of opportunity — tipping over a black bin and making off with a white bag of kitchen garbage — in Mill Bay in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
It won’t get that chance again.
Robert Alcock, who lives on a two-acre parcel and enjoys seeing wildlife including bears and cougars on the property, is usually conscientious about storing garbage bins inside his garage until collection day.
But bins happened to be outdoors in the wee hours of Friday morning because the garage was packed with 185 English laurel bushes for a 400-foot-long hedging project getting underway this weekend.
Alcock had planned to take the bins back indoors on Friday night. But the bear beat him to it.
Home-security footage shows the bear visiting the garage twice for about 20 minutes in all. First, it knocked over the bin and left with the garbage bag, taking it to a neighbour’s place to tear it open.
The bear returned to check over a few items, such as corn on the cob, that had fallen out in the initial raid.
Alcock posted an edited clip of the bear’s visit on social media, as a reminder of how quickly bears can sniff out food.
“We always have to be aware that we are living in bear country and respect the bears. Be aware of what attracts them,” Alcock said.
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