FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — We know bears in West Virginia have taken to surprising elementary school principals, but now, it appears they’ve branched out their pranks to include “ding dong ditches.”
On Tuesday, Dustin Smith posted the video on his Facebook page, saying “Last night we were a victim of the good old fashioned ding dong ditch, but this time it wasn’t being performed by a teenager.”
Smith said it happened in Fairmont. The timestamp on the video reads May 8 just after 11 p.m.
The video shows the bear go up to the Ring doorbell and ring it before taking off into the night.
Now that spring is in full swing, bears are roaming the Mountain State. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has tips for residents looking to deter nuisance bear activity around their homes:
- Keep garbage secure in a garage or storage building and only place cans out for collection on the morning of pick-up, not the night before.
- Seal food scraps that produce an odor in a plastic bag before placing them in the trash.
- Don’t place food scraps in a compost pile during the summer.
- Don’t let outside pet food stay out overnight.
- Take down bird feeders and clean and store them until late fall.
- Store livestock feed in bear-proof containers or inside a secure building.
- Keep bears out of beehives and chicken houses by installing an electric fence.
The video in this story was shared with 12 News by Smith and used with permission.
