Bear wanders into 7-Eleven store in California

Nov. 17 (UPI) -- An employee at a 7-Eleven store in California captured video when a curious bear pushed open the door to the store and came inside.

Rachelle Ducusin, an employee at the 7-Eleven store in Olympic Valley, in the Lake Tahoe area, said she spotted the bear rooting through the store's trash and went inside to call 911.

Ducusin captured video when the bear followed her example and pushed the store's door open.

The video shows the employee shouting at the bear to leave as it stands in the doorway and uses its nose to trigger an automatic hand sanitizer dispenser.

Ducusin said emergency responders arrived on the scene and used rubber bullets to scare the bear away. She said the animal returned a few hours later to dig through the trash again.

Kevin Thomas, a regional manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the bear's ear tag indicates it was previously captured and marked as part of the department's tagging program in the Tahoe Basin.

"The behavior is not typical of wild bears," Thomas told SFGate. "It is a learned behavior from pursuing human food sources rather than foraging in the wild. Lake Tahoe has a robust bear population and they often interact with homes and businesses in search of food."