A British Columbia mother and her two-year-old son were involved in a harrowing encounter with a black bear last weekend.
According to reports from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the black bear pursued the pair up a staircase and into their home via a patio door on Saturday. Eleri Froude of Gibsons, BC noted that she only noticed the bear after her son alerted her to its presence.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do now?’” she told CTV news. “That was when my friend turned around and said, ‘Get the kids and get them in the bedroom.’”
Locking herself and her children inside a bedroom, a friend attempted to dissuade the bear from approaching by banging pots and yelling at the animal. Even after using a chair to push the animal away, the bear continued to approach the man until he punched it in the nose and it retreated outdoors.
After closing the door, the bear continued its aggressive behavior, gnawing at the back door as the man took photographs.
The RCMP was called to the scene and officers tried to scare the bear away with the use of air horns. While their initial actions succeeded in making the bear retreat, the animal soon returned, trying once again to regain entry to the home.
It was at this point officers made the decision to dispatch the animal given its lack of fear of humans. The bear was put down by RCMP and was removed by Conservation. Sgt. Miller from Conservation stated it was an adult male bear weighing approximately 220-250lbs and did not have any overt signs that it had been suffering from any illnesses that would have resulted in its unusually brazen behavior.