{"id":1125,"date":"2023-05-04T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T07:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2023-05-04T07:00:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T07:00:54","slug":"trail-cam-video-shows-dumpster-bear-surprising-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americangunpeople.com\/?p=1125","title":{"rendered":"Trail Cam Video Shows Dumpster Bear Surprising Principal"},"content":{"rendered":"


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For Zela Elementary School principal James Marsh, Monday morning was one he won\u2019t soon forget. At 7:15 a.m. on May 1, Marsh was going through his normal routine and opening the school\u2019s dumpster out back. As he unlocked and lifted the metal bar that held the plastic lid down, he found himself face to face with a roaring black bear.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=\/5Yht7CAO1-0<\/a><\/p>\n

Security cameras outside the West Virginia elementary school captured the arm\u2019s-length encounter. The video has since gone viral as it\u2019s been picked up by news outlets<\/a> around the country. It shows the principal\u2019s startled reaction to the bruin, which had been inside the dumpster for roughly five hours by the time Marsh opened the lid. The bear looks equally frightened as it jumps down and runs away in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

What the viral video clip doesn\u2019t show is the behind-the-scenes footage that principal Marsh captured on his personal trail cam. In an interview with Outdoor Life<\/em>, Marsh explained that he installed the trail camera to try to get a close-up shot of the dumpster-diving bear in action. The series of clips that he captured are pure gold, and they show how easily the scavenging bear was able to climb in and out of the \u201clocked\u201d dumpster.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=\/8y3feAK–dg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so strong that he\u2019d just flip that metal lock bar, bend it up, and squirm right in,\u201d Marsh says. \u201cThen he\u2019d wriggle out. He was never locked or trapped in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lifelong outdoorsman, Marsh says the black bear started coming around the elementary school the week prior. It was first caught on the school\u2019s security camera on April 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d been in there about a week before, and he left a mess,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe looked at him on the nighttime surveillance video, and then we called the sanitation department. They came out and put that lock on it, and then I never saw him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bear would come back days later, according to the timestamps on Marsh\u2019s trail cam footage. A clip that was recorded around 4 a.m. on April 30 shows the bear scaling and falling into the dumpster. (Another clip shows it climbing back out and walking away.) Recognizing the giant trash receptacle as a new favorite food source, the black bear returned to the dumpster again on May 1 during the wee hours of the morning. Only this time, it never left.<\/p>\n

One second before the principal realizes what\u2019s inside the dumpster. Courtesy of Zela Elementary School \/ Nicholas County Schools<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat Monday morning, he crawled in right before 2 a.m. and never came out,\u201d Marsh says. \u201cMy guess is he was full, his belly was satisfied, and he just plopped down and took a nap. And I probably woke him up, I\u2019d say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marsh explains that he contacted the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources after their close encounter. The agency reinforced the metal bar with a two-by-four, but he says it wasn\u2019t enough to keep the bear out of there. Unsurprisingly, it came back late at night on May 2 for another helping of discarded cafeteria food.<\/p>\n

\u201cI scared him for about a day, but it wasn\u2019t enough,\u201d Marsh says. \u201cHe didn\u2019t stay this time, but I called the sanitation department today and they\u2019re welding some metal lids that won\u2019t bend. I think once we do that, we\u2019ll be able to keep him out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Next:<\/strong> Watch: New Jersey Woman Who\u2019s Been \u201cAccepted\u201d by Black Bears Sweet Talks One Into Closing Her Front Door<\/a><\/p>\n

If necessary, Marsh says the DNR will trap and relocate the bear. He\u2019s hoping to avoid that, since most black bears will return to a known food source, and when that happens, wildlife officers typically have no choice but to euthanize the animal. Marsh hopes that by reinforcing the dumpster and keeping the bear out, it will eventually give up and move on from the school.<\/p>\n

Dac Collins contributed reporting to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n