Bear Knocks Down Bird Feeder With Paw in Rhode Island Yard
A hungry bear pulled down a bird feeder “like nothin’” to feast on its contents while scouting out a backyard in Coventry, Rhode Island, on May 23, video shows.
Speaking to Storyful, Donna List, who recorded this video, said that she was about to head outside to do some gardening when she spotted the black bear munching on one of her bird feeders, mere feet from her window.
After finishing the contents of the first feeder, List said that the bear meandered over to the second bird feeder and knocked it down using one paw before munching on the rest of the feed and wandering off to the neighbor’s house. List and others watching the bear in the video note how easy it is for the bear to knock the feeder over. “Like nothin’,” one viewer says.
“My mind kept thinking, ‘What would have happened if I had been out there gardening already before the bear arrived?’” List said. “I’m glad I didn’t have a chance to find out!” she added.
Last week, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management sent out a warning about
bears waking up from hibernation and scouring the area for food, suggesting residents remove easily available food sources such as bird feeders. Credit: Donna List via Storyful
Video Transcript
- [? Look at the ?] claws.
DONNA LIST: Oh, my gosh, he is up and just looking at us.
- Not afraid [INAUDIBLE].
DONNA LIST: He is looking at us. He can't lunge through a window, can he?
- He can.
- Oh, where's the nearest [? room? ?] Well, if he comes in the house, we run out the front door, right?
DONNA LIST: Oh, absolutely.
- Yeah.
DONNA LIST: Oh, he's thinking that he's still hungry.
- Well, he is.
DONNA LIST: Really?
- If he just came out of hibernation.
DONNA LIST: Really?
- [? He's ?] ready to eat.
DONNA LIST: You look like you're fat enough.
- No. Here he goes. Watch.
DONNA LIST: Doesn't he look like he's fat enough?
- I want to see him stand.
- Did you see him stand already?
- No. He just did that lunch routine. Here he goes. Woop.
DONNA LIST: Oh, my god. Oh, my god. He is pulling it over. Look at this, one arm.
- Oh, my gosh.
DONNA LIST: One arm and it's done.
- Wow.
- Like nothing.
DONNA LIST: Wow.
- [INAUDIBLE] watch it. That's a cage thing [INAUDIBLE]. I don't know if he can get that open, the suet.
DONNA LIST: Is there any seed in there, or it must have all gone on the ground?
- A little bit, but it's not much.
- Ooh, I got one in the corner of my yard. But I think it's empty.
- Watch [INAUDIBLE].
DONNA LIST: Uh-oh, so he's eating the suet.
- [INAUDIBLE] pull that with [INAUDIBLE]--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- --and try to get into it. Look, see?
DONNA LIST: Look it.
- Wow. [INAUDIBLE] on tight. He could probably turn a doorknob.
DONNA LIST: Oh, god, I hope not.
- [INAUDIBLE] they do. If you ever seen some of them, they know how to like--
DONNA LIST: I know they know how to open trash cans.
- They can get into coolers.
- Yeah.
DONNA LIST: Trash cans.
- Open doors.
- Did you get a picture of him tearing down the feeders?
DONNA LIST: I did. Well, I didn't get a picture of it. I'm doing a video.
- [INAUDIBLE] at least jump on it and pull on it. But [INAUDIBLE].
- Oh, my god.
DONNA LIST: Just like mm.
- OK. It's going to cost like $200 right there.
- All right. I got a photo shoot anyway [INAUDIBLE]
- OK.
- Maybe a couple of baseball teams [INAUDIBLE].
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
DONNA LIST: Oh, you should've came over here and photo shooted this.
- I know.
- Do you think this is a good time for us to leave?
- No. You can leave whenever you want. You can stay as long as you want.
- Holy smoke.
- All right. Hey.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
DONNA LIST: That was unbelievable.
- Same here.
