***BREAKING*** Surveillance Video Just Released, Scroll to the Bottom of this Post to Watch Now
You would think we’d all be a little more cautious around bears after the text-walking incident in California earlier this week, but Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin didn’t have the luxury of time on his side last night before he leapt in to action. Sometimes when you find yourself in an emergency situation, adrenaline just takes over – like when a mother lifts a car to save a child. Thankfully no children were ever in danger in this incident, but desperate times call for desperate measures, none the less. The Burlington Free Press brings us the details of the Gov’s late night heroics:
Shumlin said he had just gone to bed around 11 p.m. Wednesday when he heard a ruckus outside. Four bears, including two cubs, were after the food in the four bird feeders on a porch, just ten feet away from his bedroom window.
He said he opened the window and yelled at the bears, or as Shumlin put it,”used my strongest Vermonter” to scare the bears away.
Shumlin said he went outside to retrieve the bird feeders, so that the bears wouldn’t return for the food in the feeders. But as Shumlin started to carry two of the feeders inside, the bears started coming back. Shumlin said he again used his strongest Vermonter to scare the animals off. They ran to the edge of the yard.
He went back outside to get the other two feeders. He said the bears appeared unhappy to have their food source taken away. The was especially true of the largest, poppa bear, Shumlin said. “He just booked it for the porch,” Shumlin said.
The governor took the two feeders and made a beeline for his door, with the poppa bear in hot pursuit. “When I opened the door, he was on the porch and five feet from the door. I screamed through that door. I didn’t know if the bear was coming through.”
Crisis averted! Seriously, were these things made of solid gold and diamond encrusted or did they maybe hold some sort of sentimental value you can’t put a price on? I’m just trying to understand why a person would run out in the middle of the night in their pajamas to save a few bird feeders from four bears.
Bear Lesson #1 – Don’t walk and text
Bear Lesson #2 – Listen to the Fish and Wildlife guys:
Shumlin said he is aware of Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife suggestions made on March 27 to bring bird feeders inside to discourage bears, but he figured ursines wouldn’t be a problem in a suburban neighborhood within walking distance of downtown Montpelier.
“There is a lesson in all this. Don’t forget to bring in your birdfeeders,” he said.
***UPDATE*** The Governor’s Office has just released surveillance footage of the great bird feeder rescue of 2012. Watch the video below!
Hat tip Ben Glassman, Director of Web Development here at Vermont Design Works.