It’s no secret that we’re living in crazy times. 2020 has brought us an onslaught of detrimental events ranging from a global pandemic to wildfires on the United States’ west coast, not to mention those spooky murder hornets…
It’s one of the biggest disappointments to know that the year that was supposed be the symbolic parallel to having perfect 20-20 vision, is now more akin to becoming the undisputed worst year so far in the most recent millennium.
There has been no shortage of action, and just when you thought your heart couldn’t take it anymore, here’s your friendly reminder that the season finale has yet to premiere.
To add to the long list of insane 2020 incidents, we head to Carbon County, PA where a garbage truck made an interesting pickup Wednesday morning.
The Kidder Township Police posted images of a large black bear mounted on top of a County Waste vehicle.
The scene looks straight out of a horror movie!
“It’s been pretty frequent, almost daily that we’re getting a new bear complaint in the area,” officer Murrow said.
The police officer also mentioned that bear complaints have been increasing recently and have been coming in at a daily rate.
This most recent incident caught the attention of the media since it’s pretty crazy to think a bear that size could climb on top of the waste truck.
The black bear was mounted on top of the waste truck and was attempting to dig into the covered garbage underneath his feet.
It’s not surprising that bears are able to sniff out their food from such a large, open area. According to bear.org, their nasal mucosa area is about 100 times larger than in humans!
“We can only assume it was sick of going for the small, small amount of trash in the garbage pails and went for the big prize,” Officer Murrow said
There was another incident in Kidder Township back in July that involved another bear devouring all the food inside the back seat of a car.
This has caused much concern and worries amongst the province since bears don’t usually tread outside as frequently as they do now. Bears usually prefer foods like nuts, acorns, fruits, insects, succulent greens, and fish.
Katherine Uhler of the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center explained that it’s mainly due to the time of year as to why bears have been out so much. Since the bears are about to go into hibernation, they decide they need to stock up on food and gain those extra pounds for the deep long sleep to come.
“Each bear is eating about 20,000 calories a day, which is about ten times more than you or I eat. So they are moving around a lot, and they are very hungry.” Uhler stated.
In addition to foraging before the hibernation, Uhler explained that the pandemic is also a contributing factor to the bear’s movements.
She also warns to stay away from any visible bears out in the open since they can be more agitated by hunger than usual.
Hibernation for bears is dependent on the regional norms of food availability in the area. Hibernation can last over 7 months in the northern regions of the country. However, southern states have food available all year round, so that prevents many bears from hibernating at all.
The bears become more easily aroused and decide to traverse outside of their habitats to find food.
“Part of it is because of COVID. People are outside a lot and that moves bears around so there are a lot of bear sightings.” Uhler said.
Things haven’t been normal all year, and this is just another example. Next time you decide to dump your garbage; make sure to do it the same day the truck comes by if you don’t want to lure any unwanted visitors.
To learn more about this fascinating story, watch the local news clip below.
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