Recently, a Pincher Creek office supply store had quite a wild break and enter, of sorts.
During early morning hours, a front window was smashed out at Pincher Office Products and the culprit was eventually found to be a black bear.
Employee Patti Mackenzie arrived at work one morning, shut off the alarm and heard voices in the store. She turned around and saw a police officer standing in a hole in the front window.
Because the owner of the store was away, Mackenzie wasn’t alerted about the overnight incident. A police officer said they had no idea what had happened, as there were no rocks, blood, fur or tracks.
After the owner returned, surveillance camera footage was viewed. “There’s this bear wandering down the street and it stopped and looked into the front door. All of a sudden, there were bright lights. It had to be a vehicle, but I had never seen a vehicle. I don’t know what it was,” says Mackenzie.
In the next frame, Mackenzie explains, the bear went through the window, ran down an aisle to the back door, looked around, went down another aisle and went back out the window. “Of course, the alarm goes off and the police are called. They had to hurry up and get here.”
And an officer had to stay at the store until morning. “Because I didn’t know,” she adds.
According to Mackenzie, officials didn’t know how old the bear was, but estimated the bear weighed roughly 300 pounds.
Pincher Creek is known for deer making their way around town, but not bears. “We have deer all over the place. It is a little unusual it came into town.”
“Last year, I guess there was a bear and they’re wondering if it’s the same one. Fish and Wildlife came and they figure it must have seen itself in the window or something,” says Mackenzie.
This bear, Mackenzie notes, was a perfect bear. “It never touched a thing.”