What was supposed to be a relaxing time after work turned into quite the scare when a North Carolina man came face to face with a bear outside of his home.
David Oppenheimer was scrolling through his phone after work when he got an alert from his doorbell camera system “to see if there’s maybe a bear there” since they are known to be around his home city of Asheville, North Carolina.
Oppenheimer didn’t see anything through his home cameras, so he let his guard down and continued going through his phone. A minute later, another alert went off, and as he turned his head, there stood a bear.
“It was almost in front of me,” Oppenheimer told USA TODAY. “We immediately made eye contact.”
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‘I was a little frightened’
As Oppenheimer looked “eye-to-eye” with the bear, video shows him grabbing a pillow on his lounge chair, startled to see the creature a few feet from him.
“I was a little frightened because it was right there and I didn’t know what it would do,” he said.
But the bear also appeared to be caught off guard, staring at Oppenheimer for a few seconds before running away. He said the bear didn’t seem frightened, but “seemed puzzled” by the situation.
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A frequent visitor
It wasn’t the first time this black bear, which Oppenheimer says is likely an adolescent, has been at his home.
Earlier in the day, the same bear was in his backyard and eating out of a bear-proof birdfeeder before it attempted to get in his neighbor’s trash can, according to Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer said the bears are commonly seen in the community, as black bears can be found on 60% of land in North Carolina, according to wildlife officials. They can be found in people’s backyards or walking around the community, and people aren’t really fazed by them. He even sells prints of the animals seen in the state.
“We are all used to them,” Oppenheimer said. “They really don’t want to bother people.”
Oppenheimer said being so close to the bear is “what made it a little awkward” in their encounter, but he’s thinking of adding a rearview mirror for his chair, just so he’s ready in case it happens again.
“If I saw it coming, I would be more calm,” he said.
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.