SIMSBURY, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) – Officials say a bear broke into a Connecticut home and stole some food as a 17-year-old girl hid in a closet.
Meilin Lemis, 17, was home alone Sunday evening in Simsbury when her mother, Michele Lemis, called to warn her a bear had gotten inside.
“I woke up from a nap, and then, she says, ‘Meilin, do not go out of your room. There is a bear in our house,’” Meilin Lemis said.
The 17-year-old hid inside a closet while the bear ransacked the home, stealing some food and leaving behind a bit of damage. The teenager was unharmed.
Meilin Lemis described what was going through her head as the bear walked through the house: “I tried to stay still and not move, not make a ruckus… I could hear him come down the hall, and I just hear deep breathing.”
She says at one point, the bear was right next to her bedroom door.
“I was like, ‘OK, this is really bad’… and I called 911 again and said, ‘There is a bear about to enter my room, and I am in my closet,’” she said.
A bear broke into a Connecticut home and stole some food as a 17-year-old girl hid in her closet. The teen’s mother says the bear returned the next day, looking for another free meal.(Source: WFSB)
Michele Lemis says the bear seems to have broken through a screen door and shoved a window air-conditioning unit out of its frame before crawling into the kitchen shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday.
Simsbury police helped scare the bear outside.
“Thank goodness I had the dog with me,” Michele Lemis said, “because I don’t know what would’ve happened if he had been in the house.”
She and her neighbors say the bear came back Monday morning, looking for another free meal.
“I was getting ready to go to work, and all of a sudden, I hear ksh ksh ksh ksh on the front door again,” Michele Lemis said. “So, I look out, and there’s the huge bear again. I was mad at that point.”
Michele Lemis says officials with the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection were planning to come Monday evening to take action to potentially catch this bear and prevent it from coming back.
“They’re going to bring a bear trap. This bear has been captured before… so they’re afraid that he might be shy of the cage and try to get away from it. So, they’re bringing some electrical mats to put in the doorways. So, if he steps on it, it will give him an electrical shock,” Michele Lemis said.
Even if this one bear is captured, Michele Lemis and her neighbors say the area is riddled with bears, with one resident even going so far as to describe it as a “bear highway.”
If you live in an area with an abundance of bears, DEEP recommends putting away your bird feeders and keeping trash cans inside a garage or shed.
“As we enter the fall, bears become more active as they prepare for the winter denning season. Information on best practices to reduce the likelihood of a human-bear conflict is available on the DEEP website,” the agency said.
DEEP is investigating how the bear entered the Lemis family’s home.
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