Connecticut couple wake to watermelon-eating bear in their home

BRANFORD, Conn., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- An elderly Ohio man who awoke to an early-morning ruckus in his home discovered a trespassing bear had broken in after eating all of his watermelons.

Matthew Gailey, 86, said he and his wife woke up about 3 a.m. recently to the sounds of a bear that had broken into their Branford home by ripping out a dog door.

The bear left some scratch marks on a bathroom wall.

"He got stuck trying to get around the doorway in the john," Gailey told WTNH-TV.

The bear ate six watermelons and some summer squash from the garden. It also knocked over three trash cans filled with bird seed outside the home.

Gailey contacted Branford police, who said there have been multiple bear sightings during the past month.

"I suggested it was breaking and entering, but they [police] didn't see it that way," Gailey said.

Environmental officers said the bear is believed to be about 200 pounds. They released a photo of the bear they suspect of having broken into Gailey's home.

The summer has been busy for food-seeking bears breaking into homes, with incidents ranging from a California bear breaking into a home and stealing pies to a New York bear that paid a special visit to a state wildlife official's home.