CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — A garbage truck in Carbon County made an unusual pickup Wednesday morning.
Photos posted to the Kidder Township Police Facebook page show a large black bear on top of a County Waste vehicle.
Kidder Township police officer Vincent Murrow said bear complaints are up this year.
"It's been pretty frequent, almost daily that we're getting a new bear complaint in the area," Officer Murrow said.
This is the most recent example: when a bear arrived at the police department Wednesday morning on the back of a garbage truck.
"We can only assume it was sick of going for the small, small amount of trash in the garbage pails and went for the big prize," Officer Murrow said.
Back in July, another bear in Kidder Township made its way into a car and ate all of the food in the back seat.
Katherine Uhler of the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center said bears are usually out and about this time of year. Since it's right before hibernation, bears are usually hungry.
"Each bear is eating about 20,000 calories a day, which is about ten times more than you or I eat. So they are moving around a lot, and they are very hungry," Uhler said.
According to Uhler, the pandemic is also contributing to their movements.
"Part of it is because of Covid. People are outside a lot, and that moves bears around, so there are a lot of bear sightings," Uhler said.
If you see a bear, Uhler said to not get close.
She said to put your garbage out only on garbage day. Do not leave food outside.
Bears can smell food up to a mile away. Just ask the driver of this garbage truck.