Bear Breaks Into Nevada County Man's Laundry Room, Damages Washing Machine
NEVADA COUNTY (CBS13) -- A brazen break-in was caught on camera in Nevada County last weekend, but the suspect is not who you would expect.
CBS 13 Sacramento reports a man found a black bear inside his laundry room. Ken Morse said he heard crashing noises late Sunday night and knew something was wrong.
"If you've never had a bear charge at you through a window, you haven't lived yet," Morse said.
Morse said he is used to dealing with nature, but not this close up.
"Washing machine is tipped over, hose is popped. We had to shut off the water, electricity, gas," Morse said.
One photo shows the bear, which Morse estimated was more than seven feet tall, stretching from the ground to the ceiling.
"It sounded like someone came through a window and took out a shelf all at the same time. Which turns out that's pretty much what it was," he said.
When first responders showed up, no one had a plan to get this bear out.
"I've been in the fire service for 33 years and this is the first time I've been called out to remove a bear from a residential structure," said Robb Rothenberger, the fire chief at Ophir Hill Fire Department.
Morse said the bear got into the laundry room by simply pushing open the door.
The general consensus was that maybe the bear could get out the same way.
"Someone's got to twist the handle and then we can put a board in there to crack the door just long enough so that he can grab it pull it open and get back into the woods," Morse said.
Luckily that's exactly what happened.
"The bear got to the front door, saw it had an open path and it was long gone," Rothenberger said.
The latches on the laundry door have since been changed in case this curious bear comes back again.
