DENVER (KDVR) — A child was having a snack in a backyard in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday when a black bear came up behind him.
The family told Nexstar’s KDVR that they had seen bears in the area before, even catching some on camera at night, but never in broad daylight like this.
The boy and his parents were spending the weekend with family in Aspen. He was munching on a bag of kettle corn that the family had bought at a farmers market earlier that day.
The incident was all caught on camera, showing the bear sniffing in the air while approaching the boy, who was sitting on a yard chair near a firepit. The bear came within about a foot of the boy’s head.
At that moment, the boy’s mother, Rachel Schmela, said she didn’t know what to do.
“I was, like, frozen for a couple of seconds, I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “Luckily, Rob and his brother kind of jumped into action sooner than I did, and they knew just to make some loud noise and that would scare the bear.”
No one was hurt in the incident.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) says storing food, dog food or bird feed in the garage can also attract bears, as well as anything with an odor in cars or garages, including (but not limited to) scented candles, air fresheners, soaps, lotions and lip balms.
If a bear comes near your home, CPW suggests scaring it away with a firm yell and loud noises like clapping hands, banging pots and pans, or air horns. If a bear enters your home, CPW also says to make sure it can get out the same way it got in.