In a small town in British Columbia, Canada, there is such a wonderful thing happening. A resident of Duncan Township on Vancouver Island suddenly discovers one day that an uninvited guest has been "moved" under the foundation of his house - a black bear!
That's what happened to the Crystal Weaver family. There is a river near where they live and they are frequent visitors to a variety of wildlife.
For the first two weeks, Weaver's dog began to behave very strangely, as if something was provoking him, barking in the yard all day. On December 28, they even heard strange noises coming from under the house.
Weaver joked, "We thought it was some raccoons out there." However, the next morning, when her husband went below deck to check, he unexpectedly found a black bear there!
"I've never seen him run so fast and crawl out of there in a fright," Weaver recalled. ”
It's reminiscent of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears, except that this time it's the black bear who finds Weaver's house, thinking it's a perfect place for him to hibernate. What's particularly interesting is that the bear even squeezed into the crawling space directly below their bedroom.
Weaver shared the experience on her TikTok, and she didn't expect it to go viral, with more than 4.2 million video views. She herself was surprised: "I just thought it was cool and wanted to share it with my 50 followers. ”
Helen Davis, a wildlife biologist, explains that while uncommon, there are also records of bears hibernating underneath houses. Black bears hibernate during the winter months when food is scarce, she said, and often seek out natural burrows to keep them safe, warm and dry.
Davis said there is little primary forest in southern Vancouver Island due to logging activities, which could lead to a lack of suitable hibernation burrows for bears. She also cautioned against feeding bears, as this could lead to bears becoming Xi to humans, posing a threat to humans and possibly being euthanized.
At the same time, the BC Conservation Officer Service reminds homeowners that the best way to avoid bears moving into their homes is to make sure there are no entrances for them to enter and to keep all guardrails secure. If a bear tries to survive the winter for free under a household, the homeowner should contact the service's human-wildlife conflict hotline.
Bears can cause all sorts of damage under houses, such as pushing gas/water pipes, biting off beams, and even dragging trash under houses to attract other pests, the service said.
But for Davis, if she had a bear under her deck, it would be the highlight of her life. "I know not everyone is going to like that idea, but if I have a bear under my house, it's fantastic," she laughs. ”
So, the next time you hear something going on under the floor of your home, maybe it's just a bear looking for a place to hibernate! Sometimes, the boundaries between us and wildlife are much thinner than we think. That's the wonder of living in a natural environment, isn't it?