Black bear spotted eating garbage outside Manotick home

Dallas Clancy had just arrived home from work on Tuesday night when he noticed something strange.

His family's garbage cans were knocked over near the garage and garbage was strewn about, he told the CBC's Stu Mills on Wednesday.

Then, as Clancy got out of his vehicle to go inside, he saw a young-looking black bear run into a wooded area next to his Manotick home.

The shocked 18-year-old walked into the garage where his mother was sitting in her car, using her phone.

She didn't believe her son at first when he told her a bear had been next to the garage. They closed the garage door, looked out the window and waited.

'Sure enough, it came right back'

"And sure enough, it came right back 10 minutes later and was just picking at the garbage again. So it was kind of wild," Clancy said.

"The crazy part is that the garage door was just open. The bear was just eating over here, she was just sitting in the car in the garage on her phone, and she could have opened the door and been face to face with a bear, which is pretty crazy to think. She had no idea there was a bear there."

The family watched the bear eat their garbage — including remnants of Clancy's father's 50th birthday cake — and snapped photos.

The bear stayed for about 10 minutes, then dragged a bag of garbage into the woods.

"I was kind of shocked. I didn't really expect to see a bear around here. Maybe a coyote, and I've seen deer around, but a bear was kind of shocking," Clancy said.

"I have a lot of siblings ... the youngest one is six, so it's kind of shocking, kind of worrisome."