Bear caught on video trying to eat Colorado couple’s ring camera

Living right up against a mountain on the edge of Estes Park, Colorado, Chris and Jim Fisherkeller are used to wildlife being around, but the visit of a huge black bear to their porch one morning at 3 a.m. confused them.

A few days later, that same bear tried to destroy one of nine Ring cameras the couple had set up around their property to capture wildlife videos.

Bear visit in the early hours

Chris Fisherkeller told Cowboy State Daily that at that strange hour of November 18, she woke up to some noise and initially thought it was the wind.

The noise came from the bear climbing onto the porch of their home and she discovered it was “right by the front door,” she said.

The bear, who she estimated weighed about 400 pounds, was standing on all fours just on the other side of the glass door, apparently trying to figure out how to get inside.

“He wasn’t easily deterred, and this is the first time I’ve seen that in a black bear,” she said.

Fisherkeller started banging on the door, which convinced the bear to back away a bit. Then her husband opened the door and shouted at the door, and the door slowly walked away.

Wild Center Central

The couple moved to Colorado from Illinois a few years ago and quickly became enchanted by the abundance of wildlife around Estes Park, which is located just outside Rocky Mountain National Park.

Estes Park is known for its huge herd of elk takes over the city as they migrate in and out of the national park.

Other species, including black bears and mountain lions, have also invaded the city.

The Fisherkellers strictly avoid feeding wildlife and keep their waste locked in bear-proof containers.

But lots of animals still show up at their site, so they started setting up Ring cameras around their property to capture wildlife videos.

“We’re right up against a mountain,” she said. “I just feel like my driveway used to be a game trail. Animals seem to come down the mountain and walk right down my driveway.”

And that produces beautiful nature photos, including a video of three mountain lions that appeared in April.

“That was interesting,” Fisherkeller said. “We can’t find out if they are siblings or a mother with cubs almost as big as she is. I have read that mountain lions can stay with their mothers for up to two years.”

They also got footage of a bull moose sneezing on a camera lens.

Fisherkeller regularly posts videos online and is quickly gaining a fan base.

“People just started going crazy over these Ring videos,” she said.

Bear tries to swallow the camera

On November 21, the same bear that had appeared on their porch reappeared, with a slightly smaller companion.

The two bears hung out in the driveway for a while and even engaged in some playful, awkward wrestling.

“I was wondering what those bears have been up to?” Visser said. “We have some funny brownies in Colorado.”

Later, the big bear walked straight up to one of the cameras, sniffed around for a moment and then apparently tried to eat the camera.

“I thought if I ever saw the inside of a bear’s mouth, it would be the last thing I would see on Earth,” Fisherkeller said.

Turns out the video she made indicates the bear is healthy.

“I thought, ‘You have really nice teeth,’” she said.

She was baffled as to why the bear had tried to swallow the camera.

Then she remembered that while her husband had previously changed the camera batteries, he had put the batteries in the same jacket pocket where he keeps dog treats.

Because bears have such a keen sense of smell, the bear must have thought the camera smelled like a dog snack, she said.

Not everyone is careful

Despite a few encounters with bears, Fisherkeller says she is not afraid of them, just cautious and respectful.

She is glad that Colorado, unlike Wyoming, has no grizzly bears.

“I think I would be afraid of them,” she said.

However, not everyone in Estes Park is so careful about not feeding wildlife. Tourists are particularly bad at leaving trash where bears and other animals can get to it, she said.

And the bears often appear in her backyard, and that of an adjacent neighbor, to eat what they’ve found around town.

“The bears don’t seem to like eating things where they get them,” she said. “My backyard and that of my neighbor are against a mountain. And I think that gives the bears a sense of privacy when they’re eating.”

She doesn’t want bears to suffer because some people are messy people.

“They say, ‘A fed bear is a dead bear.’ And we don’t want a bear to be euthanized because of people’s behavior,” Fisherkeller said.

She added that her neighbors and friends joke that there could be another reason why the black bears are visiting.

Her husband is a huge fan of the Chicago Bears football team and every game day he decorates the house with the team’s swag.

“Our neighbors say this is why the bears feel welcome on our property,” she said.

Contact Mark Heinz at [email protected]

Mark Heinz can be reached at [email protected].