Michigan Man Has Face-To-Face Encounter With Black Bear
(CBS) -- A southwest Michigan man had a close encounter with a black bear earlier this week, when the bear wandered onto his porch just after dinner.
Max Luna had been grilling on his back deck Tuesday night, and was getting ready to wash the dishes, when he saw the bear walk onto his porch in New Buffalo, likely drawn by the smell of food.
"I've never seen a bear up close like that, and I was literally … there was a pane of glass between him and I, and it was exhilarating," Luna told WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana.
Separated only by the glass sliding doors between his deck and kitchen, Luna shouted at the bear to try to drive it away. He snapped a few photos and a short video of the bear as it stubbornly hung around.
"You can see all of his paw prints. You can see the bite marks that he put into my door, which was a little scary, but exciting," he said.
It's unclear if it was the same bear that has been spotted wandering near the Michigan-Indiana border for the past few months, or if there have been multiple bears involved.
Luna said the bear had a stare-down with his cat, and stood against the sliding door, panting.
"The window kind of buckled a little bit, and that's when I thought, 'Okay, this might be a little dangerous. Time to get some professionals in here," he said.
Luna called police, but they had no luck shooing the bear away, either. Eventually, the bear wandered off on its own.