A resident spending the holidays at his California vacation property had to resort to bear pepper spray to ward off an animal that attacked him. The incident occurred on Wednesday, July 10, near the garage of his home.
Cortlandt Koerwitz, who resides in Sacramento, California, reported that his daughters were the first to notice the bear’s presence. The animal was scavenging through the trash at the vacation residence, located on Lake Tahoe, while the young women were organizing coolers in the garage for a boat trip on the 4th of July holiday.
“The young women said that the bear, unlike its usual escape behavior, approached them,” said Koerwitz. The animal’s aggressive reaction highlights atypical behavior for bears in inhabited areas, increasing the risk for residents.
Security cameras recorded the moment Koerwitz grabbed bear-specific pepper spray, which he keeps stored near the garage door. He activated the device precisely when the large mammal directed its attention towards him.
“I saw something out of the corner of my left eye, and it was the bear coming toward me,” Koerwitz described. “We both got scared, and I just fired the spray. The excess product ended up getting on me and irritating my eyes.”
