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Kelowna  

Bear caught on camera taking a dip in the pool, returning stolen cushion

Bear cools down in pool

A Kelowna couple who gets frequent visits from a young bear has caught a funny interaction on camera.

Katherine Tochor lives in the centre of Kelowna near Summerhill Winery, just off a busy road.

Tochor says she has been visited by a young bear since May and has been luckily enough to catch a few of the encounters on camera.

"These bears are not scared. On Mothers Day this little guy came towards us, he was pretty tiny," she says.

The young bear walked right up to the couple without hesitation. However it didn't stop there. Tochor witnessed the bear again on June 14 and again on August 2.

"I came out of the bedroom and theres a bear spinning like a dog on my outdoor couch trying to get comfortable," she says. "Then it plopped its butt down and it was playing with the cushions."

Throughout these encounters, the couple reached out to warn conservation officers who questioned if they had an outdoor kitchen or garbage outside, which they didn't.

As the days went on, Tochor noticed something was off last week.

"I go outside, I thought, 'why is my couch all crooked?' and I look and theres mud marks and I thought, 'oh s*** the bear,'" she says, realizing one of her cushions was missing from the same couch the bear had previously been caught on.

Tochor's husband scanned their entire yard looking for the missing cushion but was unsuccessful.

But on Friday, the bear was back, and this time it was taking a dip in the pool.

In the video, Tochor attempts to scare off the bear while shooing it out of the pool. Once the bear decides to leave, it's runs out of Tochor's yard downwards towards the vineyards below. Thats when Tochor saw the bear drop the cushion that went missing just days before.

"The bear must've had it hiding along our garden because then when he ran, he dropped the cushion. I was almost ready to charge him with theft under $500," she laughs.

While happy to get their cushion back, the couple is concerned about how frequently the bear visits. An older bear has also been sighted in the area, which Tochor believes is the mother.

"It's way too used to people and it's not scared of us," says Tochor. "Today I was super brave. I'm scared but I'm learning now as soon as I'm going to go outside, I'm clapping my hands and yelling."

Since this last encounter, conservation officers have informed the couple that traps have been out for some time.



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