PENNSVYLVANIA — An unwelcome visitor made its way into a retirement community in Pennsylvania this week.
However, this visitor was not a person. It was a black bear!
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The bear broke into St. Andrew’s Village just after 11 p.m. outside Pittsburgh on Tuesday, according to our sister station, WPXI-TV, in Pittsburgh.
Charlene Elliott is a lead certified nursing assistant. She was working when it happened.
“I was sitting there at our nurse’s station, and I heard a big crash,” she told WPXI. “I thought it was one of the aides that fell, I got up and I’d seen it was a bear coming down the hall towards me!”
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The bear was inside the retirement community for about 15 minutes and ran through the hallways.
“Going through my mind was, ‘get the thing out of here!’” Elliott said to WPXI. “I told them all to shut the doors. Get the doors all shut!”
She added that the bear went into some resident rooms and got nose-to-nose with one of the residents in bed.
“Please do not move, touch him, because he could have mauled him. I mean, one swipe,” said Elliott.
She also told WPXI that one resident wanted to feed the bear a sandwich.
“She’s like ‘Well, go ahead and give it my sandwich!’ and I’m like, ‘No, we can’t do that!” said Elliott.
Employees did use Rice Krispies Treats to lure the bear out of the building, WPXI said.
Elliott added that they used a walker to hit the bear toward the door.
WPXI reports that the Pennsylvania Game Commission set a trap using donuts and other pastries to catch the bear on Thursday.
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