If an unexpected drop-in from the in-laws is your idea of a shock, you obviously aren’t Tim Coombs and Kate Turnbull. Last Monday, the couple received a visit from a much scarier guest: a full-grown polar bear.
The couple were in their home in Domino, Labrador, when they spotted a polar bear looking into their kitchen window. Turnbull told the CBC that at the time, Coombs was cooking dinner when he made eye contact with the bear. “That’s when he sung out, he said, ‘Holy, it’s a bear … a bear in the window,’” Turnbull said.
This isn’t the first time a polar bear has visited the couple’s home. Two weeks earlier, another polar bear was pawing around the property, even tearing the water line off the home and attempting to dig up the septic tank.
“It was kind of frightening for us—it’s too close for comfort when they’re coming around the houses like that,” Turnbull said.
Throughout Labrador, residents have been reporting polar bears sightings on residential property. In Charlottetown, a small town along the coast south of Domino, a man was forced to call wildlife officials after he saw a polar bear eating his sled dogs’ food outside. When officials arrived, they shot a few rubber bullets and eventually the bear ran away.
Although polar bears are common in Labrador, they mostly arrive in the spring and stay along the coastline.
Because of these frequent encounters, the province has issued a statement warning residents to use proper garbage storage and to avoid storing food outdoors to dissuade curious and hungry bears.
