Terrace senior captures close encounter with cinnamon bear
72-year-old Thelma Odell captures photographs, video of wandering bear near her home in Terrace's Southside
Thelma Odell, a 72-year-old Terrace senior, experienced a startling yet fascinating wildlife encounter right outside her home on Friday afternoon. At approximately 3:30 p.m., Odell spotted a cinnamon bear ambling around her front yard on Molitor Street, near Mills Memorial Hospital.
Odell, who was watching TV at the time, noticed the bear near her van. Despite her limited mobility, she managed to capture a few images and videos of the bear from the safety of her home. "I took a few blurry pictures through my window," Odell said. "Of course, I wouldn't leave my home while it was meandering around."
Initially mistaking the bear for a grizzly due to its size, Odell later realized it was a cinnamon bear, a colour phase of the black bear, lacking the distinctive hump of a grizzly. "The first thing that ran through my mind was that it was scary because when my grandkids come over, they play outside."
The encounter lasted about 20 minutes, during which the bear explored her yard, sniffing around and showing curiosity towards Odell's van and sidewalk.
WATCH: Cinnamon bear meanders around Terrace senior’s property
Odell, who has observed a decline in bear sightings over the years, noted this was the first bear she had seen in the area for some time.
Odell recalled finding bear remains on her lawn a week earlier and had seen posts on Facebook about bear sightings near E.B. Horsman & Son and Mills Memorial Hospital. After seeing those reports, she thought it was only a matter of time until she saw it herself.
"I was wondering if I was going to run into the bear," Odell said.
While Odell described the encounter as "scary," she expressed concerns about mobility-impaired individuals like herself encountering the bear. She plans to report the sighting to the conservation office after the long weekend, believing the bear should be safely relocated out of town out of concern for the many children and seniors that live in the area.