Break-in at June Lake’s Fern Creek Lodge
Fern Creek Lodge owner Jon Coats woke up to a nasty surprise last Friday morning, when he opened the Lodge general store and found unmistakable evidence of a bear break-in.
Based upon his inventory, Coats concluded that the bear had broken in through the window and perused the store at its leisure. The bear began with a bag of marshmallows and brown sugar, followed by sausage and cheese from the refrigerator, 15 muffins and pastries from the coffee counter, one giant cookie near the cash register, and a single Kit-Kat bar from the candy section.
This 7-month old cub recently got in to a house through a kitchen window. Photo courtesy: Steve Searles.
Coats said he knows the offending bear, a 350-pound regular to the neighborhood. “This is a nuisance bear,” he said. “He breaks into vehicles, cabins and dumpsters on a nightly basis.”
Emboldened by success, the bear came back to Fern Creek Lodge two nights later. The total damage: between $1,500-$1,600, Coats estimated.
Coats said he took precautionary measures after the first break in, putting up ammonia-soaked rags on the windows, and covering the windows so the bear couldn’t see in.
“If people didn’t feed the bears, we wouldn’t have problems like this,” he said. “I don’t want to see him killed.”
Coats also reported the bear to the Mono County Sheriff’s Department and Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Mammoth Lakes Wildlife Specialist Steve Searles commended Coats’ preventative efforts. “Mr. Coats has every right to kill the bear,” he said “What a nice man, to give [other methods] that much effort.”
Searles said that bears are currently entering a period known as hyperphagia, a period of excessive eating and drinking to fatten for hibernation. In spite of this, he said, “I don’t want to jinx it, but we haven’t shot a single bear this year. People are doing an amazing job.”
Searles did say that June Lake has been having more trouble with bears of late—particularly bears breaking into cars. But he pointed to the preventative model established by Mammoth as one that Coats at least was following.
“I’d say it’s amazing how much our bears have learned over the years and passed on to each other, that we have so few problems in a really dramatic drought year like this,” Searles said.
