Bear with sweet tooth breaks into refrigerator for a prize, Connecticut video shows

A man walked into his garage on Memorial Day to find a stranger with a sweet tooth stealing from his refrigerator.

John Kelly, of Farmington, Connecticut, recorded video on his phone as a black bear took cartons of chocolate milk out of his refrigerator on the morning of May 30.

“He saw me, then he grabbed one more and ran out the back,” Kelly told McClatchy News.

Kelly said the bear ignored the pizza, beer, soda and other snacks in the fridge and went straight for the drawer with the chocolate milk cartons.

“I was shocked,” he said. “I opened up the door and he was in the refrigerator helping himself to the chocolate milk.”

Kelly said black bears are a common sight around his neighborhood. Farmington is about 10 miles southwest of Hartford.

Black bears are found throughout Connecticut. In 2019, about 7,300 bear sightings were reported to wildlife officials, and the number of sightings has been on the rise, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

In 2021, 403 bear sightings were reported in Farmington alone, according to a map of bear sightings from the department.

Black bears normally feed on grasses, fruits, nuts, insects and the occasional small mammal, according to the department. Butat least one Connecticut black bear seems to be a fan of chocolate.

This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Bear with sweet tooth breaks into refrigerator for a prize, Connecticut video shows."