Date: 09-10-2015
Bear family adopts Paducah family SUV
BY GENEVIEVE POSTLETHWAIT
The Paducah Sun
Bill Perrin of Paducah knew his family’s Labor Day weekend would be one to remember the moment his nephew said the words, “Uncle Bill? You have a bear in your car.”
When Perrin and his family returned from a picnic Monday to their rented cabin outside Gatlinburg, Tennessee, they found several bear cubs “playing” atop Perrin’s parked SUV.
At a loss for what to do, they watched from their cars for almost an hour. Finally they took a chance to dart past the cubs and up to the cabin’s deck. From there family members broke out their smartphones and started filming as Perrin tried to shoo away the cubs.
“I started to use the water hose just to get the cubs off the car, but they wouldn’t go very far,” Perrin said.
Once the cubs walked off a little ways, Perrin’s nephew peeked through the SUV’s tinted windows to see the mama bear looking back at him from the front seat.
“I thought he was kidding!” Perrin remembered. “My nephew opened the door, and as soon as the mother busted out of the car she looked around, saw her cubs, and they just walked away like nothing had happened.”
He asked the kids not to post the videos on Facebook, but they did, and it didn’t take long for the video to spread.
The local news station in Gatlinburg picked up the story, one of many recent tales of hungry bears breaking into cars and cabins in the Smoky Mountains for treats in preparation for hibernation. As a Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokesman told WVLT-TV, cherries (one of the bears’ favorite food sources) didn’t grow in the park this summer, and the park’s also seeing fewer acorns and nuts.
The Perrin family had been warned the local bears were especially hungry this season and took special care not to leave food in their cars. Still, the mama bear found her way inside the SUV and couldn’t quite find her way out. Her efforts to break free all but destroyed the vehicle’s interior, but Perrin was still able to drive home.
The family is unsure how the bear got into the SUV, though they suspect she managed to open a door.
Perrin, who works at Computer Services Inc., has heard a lot of bear puns and jokes at the office and from friends since returning home, but he said it’s all in good fun. It certainly made for a vacation his family will never forget. They’re already joking about it themselves.
“My nephew asked me if I was going to contact the insurance company, and I said probably, and then he said, ‘Well won’t that be em-bear-rassing?'” Perrin couldn’t help but laugh too.
Perrin said he does have full coverage on his bear-ravaged SUV, and he intends to call his insurance provider soon. At this point he’s thankful his family members got the whole thing on video. Without that precious footage, they might never believe his story.
