Black Bear Breaks Into Kitchen For Late-Night Snack

KETCHUM, Idaho (CBS Seattle/AP) — A black bear in search of a late-night snack broke into an Idaho house and licked leftover Chinese food from a cast iron pan on the stove.

David Edwards of Ketchum told the Idaho Mountain Express that his dog’s barking awakened him around 3 a.m. Monday.

When he went to investigate what had his Irish setter-Lab mix so upset, he saw the bear on its hind legs, paws on the stove, licking a pan.

“I looked into the kitchen and saw this big, furry animal,” Edwards told the paper.

Edwards’ wife, Sara, had fallen asleep on the couch and his first instinct was to get his wife away from the kitchen area. However, he said, “I couldn’t tell her there was a bear in the house because she would have just lost her mind. She gets very upset over spiders.”

So he woke her up and led her into the bedroom without telling her about the furry dish washer.

Edwards went back into the kitchen to find the bear was gone and the pan was clean. Edwards credits his dog, Stanley, for waking him up before the bear got farther into the house.

“If it weren’t for Stanley, who knows what would have happened” Edwards said.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)