Weird NewsConnecticutAVON Conn.Paul Copleman

Bear Barges Into Connecticut Bakery And Scarfs Up 60 Cupcakes

A baker finally got the bear to leave by honking a car horn.
AP

AVON, Conn. (AP) — A hungry black bear barged into the garage of a Connecticut bakery, scared several employees and helped itself to 60 cupcakes before ambling away.

Workers at Taste by Spellbound in the town of Avon were loading cakes into a van for delivery on Wednesday when the bear showed up. There are between 1,000 and 1,200 black bears living in Connecticut, the state environmental agency says, with sightings last year in 158 of the state’s 169 towns and cities.

Bakery owner Miriam Stephens wrote in an Instagram post that she heard employee Maureen Williams “screaming bloody murder” and yelling that there was a bear in the garage.

Williams told TV station WTNH that she shouted to scare the bear off but it retreated and came back three times.

Williams said the bear charged at her so she backed out of the garage and ran.

Surveillance video obtained by WTNH shows bakery workers walking around the side of the business to try to scare the bear, but then running away after it scares them.

The video shows the bear dragging a container of cupcakes from the garage into the parking lot. Stephens said the bear ate 60 cupcakes.

A baker finally got the bear to leave by honking a car horn, Williams said.

The four-footed thief was gone by the time police and officers from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection arrived.

No one was injured in the encounter — one in a series of troubling interactions between black bears and humans in Connecticut.

A 74-year-old woman suffered bites to her arms and legs last month when she was attacked by a bear while walking her dog in a Hartford suburb, the first such attack this year. There were two attacks last year, including one in October where a 10-year-old boy was mauled in a backyard.

“The frequency and severity of bear-human interactions is increasing,” DEEP spokesperson Paul Copleman said Friday.

Statistics compiled by the department show that there were a record 67 reports of bears entering Connecticut homes in 2022. The previous record was 45 in 2020.

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Before You Go

Black Bears Around The World
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In this undated photo provided by the Oregon Zoo, a quarantined black bear cub plays with his stuffed otter toy at The Oregon Zoo in Portland. (AP Photo/Oregon Zoo, Carli Davidson) (credit:AP)
(02 of17)
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A young black bear is seen grazing near the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Saturday, June 23, 2012, in Juneau, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer) (credit:AP)
(03 of17)
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In this undated photo provided by the Oregon Zoo, a quarantined black bear cub explores his surroundings at The Oregon Zoo in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Oregon Zoo, Carli Davidson) (credit:AP)
(04 of17)
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In this photo provided by Kern County Animal Control, a black bear that wandered onto school property during a Bakersfield school graduation is shown before being released in Kern County, Calif., Thursday, May 31, 2012. Kern County Animal Control officers say the young black bear approached the grounds of Ramon Garza Elementary School on Thursday, forcing students who were outside to return to their classrooms, and surprising students and parents attending a graduation ceremony at adjacent Sierra Middle School. (AP Photo/Kern County Animal Control, Kim Rodriguez) (credit:AP)
(05 of17)
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In this photo provided by the Oregon Zoo, keeper Michelle Shireman interacts with the black bear cub she is taking care of while in quarantine at The Oregon Zoo. (AP Photo/Oregon Zoo, Carli Davidson) (credit:AP)
(06 of17)
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In this Oct. 2, 2010 file photo released by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, an Asiatic Black Bear cub watches from its cage at a bear bile farm in Hanoi, Vietnam. A share listing plan by Guizhentang that sells tonics made with bear bile is provoking a storm of online criticism in China from animal rights groups, celebrities and ordinary Chinese. Reports Friday, Feb. 17, 2012 said dozens of well-known entertainers, writers and other celebrities signed a petition to the China Securities Regulatory Commission urging it to withhold approval for the initial public offering by the Chinese medicines maker. (AP Photo/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, M. Silverberg, File) (credit:AP)
(07 of17)
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A bear, lower left, explores its cage on the farm of Marian Thompson near Zanesville, Ohio, after it was released to Thompson by the Columbus Zoo Friday, May 4, 2012. Terry Thompson, Marian's late husband, released 56 animals (credit:AP)
(08 of17)
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In this March 2012 photo provided by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, biologist Brad Young holds a baby black bear in Bolivar County in Mississippi. Last year's Mississippi River floods may have killed a number of black bear cubs in Mississippi, says Young. (AP Photo/Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Casey Hubbard) (credit:AP)
(09 of17)
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CHENGDU, CHINA: A rescued Black Bear reaches for an apple in a sanctuary at the Moon Bear Rescue Center, 16 December 2002 in Chengdu, Southwest China. The opening of the rescue center for black bears marks a crucial step in a campaign to curb bear bile farming for medical purposes. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(10 of17)
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In this photo released by R.A., a black bear from Virginia, left, and Kris, a Louisiana black bear, right, are shown in this photograph taken in March 2011 and provided by Appalachian Bear Rescue of Townsend, Tenn., shortly before their release in April 2011. The animal, dubbed Kris because it arrived at the Tennessee center just before Christmas 2010, was shot and killed in southwest Mississippi in December. It had been tagged and released eight months earlier in Louisiana. Wildlife officials are investigating and say a suspect, an Amite County man, could face federal charges because Louisiana black bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act. (AP Photo/Appalachian Bear Rescue) (credit:AP)
(11 of17)
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Yoyo, a black bear at the Orange County Zoo at Irvine Regional Park in Irvine, Calif., opens up a Christmas present on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 . The zoo wraps treats in gift boxes for the animals and places Christmas trees inside the exhibit for the holidays. (AP Photo/Orange County Register, Ana Venegas) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT MBO (credit:AP)
(12 of17)
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This July 2011 photo provided by the Appalachian Bear Rescue shows a cub at the center in Townsend, Tenn. The Appalachian Bear Rescue is the only place in the Southeast where orphaned black bears get a shot at survival. (AP Photo/Appalachian Bear Rescue) (credit:AP)
(13 of17)
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This July 2011 photo provided by the Appalachian Bear Rescue shows two cubs at the center in Townsend, Tenn. The Appalachian Bear Rescue is the only place in the Southeast where orphaned black bears get a shot at survival. (AP Photo/Appalachian Bear Rescue) (credit:AP)
(14 of17)
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In a Monday, Oct. 17, 2011 photo, a mother bear and her four cubs take refuge in a tree near US 93 just south of Whitefish, Montana. The bears quickly drew a crowd as both sides of the highway were lined with parked cars and people stopping to take photos. (AP/Daily Inter Lake, Brenda Ahearn) (credit:AP)
(15 of17)
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A mother black bear and one of her four cubs take refuge in a tree near U.S. 93 just south of Whitefish, Mont., early Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. The five bears quickly drew a crowd as both sides of the highway were lined with parked cars and people stopping to take photos. (AP Photo/Daily Inter Lake, Brenda Ahearn) (credit:AP)
(16 of17)
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In this undated file photo taken in Yachats, Ore., Karen Noyes feeds black bears outside her home. Noyes, who has lost a legal fight to feed black bears from her home on the Oregon coast, says she isn't returning to Oregon. (credit:AP)
(17 of17)
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CHONGQING, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 24: (CHINA OUT) Two black bears are forced to wear boxing gloves during a 'practice' session as part of preparations for the upcoming 'animal games', at Chongqing Safari Park on September 24, 2007 in Chongqing, China. Over 200 animals from twenty zoos across China will 'compete' in the four day games, as part of a national holiday. Chongqing Safari Park is home to approximately 30,000 animals from over 400 species, including black bears, emus chimpanzees and lions. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
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