PINE MOUNTAIN CLUB, Calif. (KGET) — An elementary school teacher had a hair-raising experience when she came face-to-face with a bear in her California classroom.
Elaine Salmon teaches at the Peak to Peak Charter School in Pine Mountain Club, located about 90 miles north of Los Angeles.
Salmon said that while she was making copies in the main office on Monday, the bear broke into her classroom and ate her students’ earthquake kits, which were full of granola bars.
“When I came back to the classroom to open the door, the bear came charging toward the door because, I guess, it was able to come in but couldn’t get out,” she said.
Salmon rushed back to the office to call her husband since her cell phone was still inside the classroom with the bear. Her husband, Ian Sawrey, specializes in bear deterrents with his business Mountain Bearriers.
Sawrey safely removed the bear but said the encounter is part of a larger problem that’s only getting worse.
“We had about 719 wildlife incidents in our last fiscal year, which ended June of this year,” said Sawrey, who’s also a retired police officer and military veteran. “Ninety percent were all bears breaking doors, breaking windows.”
He said there’s a bear patrol in the area. Some residents have also set up unwelcome bear mats and hand rails with 3-inch long nails.
“I’ve had encounters with residents that have been sitting in their room watching television, and the bear will tear through the screen and the window while they’re in the room,” said Sawrey. “I’ve had residents come home to their house with a bear in the fridge and they’ve yelled and screamed at the bear and the bear just looked at them and kept on eating.”
Sawrey said his service sets up electrical wires around the doors and windows because a bear can open any door you can.
“Yes, we do live with nature. Yes, we do live with bears, but the bears have crossed a line,” he said.