🐻🧁Beargate: The Epic Tale of a Black Bear and 60 Cupcakes that Shook Connecticut Bakery 🥮🍩
TL;DR: An unexpected guest, a black bear, crashes the party at a Connecticut bakery, Taste by Spellbound, triggering a ‘beary’ scary situation. The four-legged foodie feasts on 60 cupcakes, triggering chaos among the staff before strolling away like it’s just another Tuesday. This event adds to the increasing encounters between humans and black bears in Connecticut. 🐾🚨
How often do you hear about a black bear waltzing into a bakery, scaring the sweet bejesus out of the staff, devouring 60 cupcakes, and then just walking away like he was sampling the breakfast buffet at the local diner? Not often, right? Yet, this is exactly what happened in a Connecticut bakery recently, and it has stirred up quite a conversation.
The whole ‘beargate’ took place at Taste by Spellbound in Avon, where workers were busy doing their thing, loading cakes for delivery. Imagine their surprise when a black bear, presumably following the intoxicating scent of sweet frosting, just ambled in. By the way, in case you’re wondering, black bears aren’t that uncommon in Connecticut. State environment agency estimates peg the number at 1,000 to 1,200, with bear-sightings recorded in 158 of the state’s 169 towns and cities last year. 🐻🍯
Now, coming back to our pastry-loving bear, the bakery’s owner, Miriam Stephens, recounts how one of her employees, Maureen Williams, first spotted the intruder. Williams, understandably, wasn’t exactly thrilled to see a bear in the garage. Wouldn’t you let out a scream, too? She even tried to scare the creature away, but the bear was either super brave or super hungry (or both), as it retreated and came back three times! 🤯😱
Just pause for a moment here. How would you react if you saw a bear chilling in your garage, munching on cupcakes? Try to scare it away? Call for help? Or maybe just let it finish its meal in peace? 🤔
The saga continued with the bear having a free run at the bakery, quite literally. Surveillance footage showed it dragging a container full of cupcakes into the parking lot. Must have been a sight, right? And this wasn’t just a little snack. Stephens confirmed the bear enjoyed a full-on feast of 60 cupcakes! It was only when a baker honked a car horn that the bear decided to take a stroll, perhaps to digest its massive sugar-laden meal. By the time the authorities arrived, the bear was long gone, probably dreaming about its next cupcake adventure. 🧁🚗
While this incident may seem amusing, it does raise a serious issue. Bear-human interactions have been on the rise in Connecticut, leading to some troubling situations. Just last month, a 74-year-old woman suffered bites from a bear while walking her dog. A 10-year-old boy was also mauled in a backyard incident last year. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection even states that the frequency and severity of these encounters are increasing. In 2022 alone, there were a record 67 reports of bears entering Connecticut homes! 😦😨
So, what’s the takeaway from this wild tale? Should we look at this as just an isolated funny incident or a clear signal of a rising issue? Are we doing enough to maintain the delicate balance between wildlife and urbanization? And more importantly, should we start bear-proofing our cupcakes? 🐻
