Bear scare: Man, animal have frightened reactions after encounter

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — It was difficult to say who was more scared -- the bear, or the man who saw the animal walking across his carport.

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David Oppenheimer, of Asheville, had an up-close and personal encounter when he saw the bear on Tuesday, WLOS-TV reported.

A Ring camera caught the moment as Oppenheimer was relaxing in a chair with his back to the driveway, according to the television station.

Oppenheimer said seeing a bear in his neighborhood had not been unusual during his 15 years living in the area. When his Ring camera chimed, he looked at his cellphone to see if there were any around, WLOS reported.

He did not look over his shoulder at first. Then, Oppenheimer saw the bear ambling across the carport.

“It definitely startled me, more because it was unexpected than because it was a bear, and it seems startled, too,” Oppenheimer told WLOS.

When Oppenheimer finally notices the bear, he recoils in shock. That brought a similar reaction from the bear, who paused before scampering away.

“When it happened, we made eye contact, and I was thinking you’re not supposed to make eye contact with a bear, but we were making eye contact, and I wasn’t sure what to do next,” Oppenheimer told WLOS. “I thought to move my eyes to look a little bit away, but I wanted to be prepared to scare the bear if it came at me.”

The bear that surprised Oppenheimer had been to his home several times before, including earlier Tuesday when the animal climbed on deck rail to try to pilfer some food from a bear-proof bird feeder, the television station.

“It’s very common,” said Jody Williams of Help Asheville Bears. “We are known as an urban bear area. However, if people don’t start doing the right thing, this is going to become a bigger problem.”

According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the black bear population in Buncombe County and Asheville has been growing recently. The statewide Wildlife Hotline received 400 bear-related calls from Buncombe County in 2017, number that nearly doubled to more than 700 in 2022.

After reviewing Oppenheimer’s video, Williams said he believed the bear was “deck-checking” because of its earlier encounter with the bird feeders.

“Don’t get them used to coming on your deck or in a residential neighborhood where they’ll get up in someone that fears bears,” Williams told WLOS. “That bear does not look at you as food. It is more scared of you than you are of it.”