Bear Charges at Dog by Maple Grove Home
It’s not something you see every day: a bear family in a Maple Grove neighborhood.
Bailey Jacobson said she was going about her day when she noticed her trash cans moving last Tuesday. Shortly after — she saw three bears.
On video captured from her security camera, her dog Zeus runs ahead of her to approach the bears. The mama bear then began to chase Zeus.
In shock, Jacobson screamed and chased after them. At first, she was calling Zeus to come back to her.
“Looking at the situation now, I’m glad that he didn’t listen to me and actually went off to the end of our driveway, which was such a good decision,” Jacobson said. “Looking at it now, I was just like ‘wow.’ It was a lot to process in the moment. But it was really intuition. I didn’t have a second thought of whether or not I was going to chase my dog.”
Jacobson chases after her dog outside her home in Maple Grove.
Zeus ran off to the side of the driveway, throwing the mama bear off his scent.
Jacobson said she went back in her house to safely watch for Zeus. She knew he was safe when she could see his ears through the woods.
Both Jacobson and Zeus escaped the incident uninjured.
Based on past reports, bears are occasionally seen in Maple Grove around this time of year, though not often in residential neighborhoods.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says if you see a bear in your yard, you should stay back and wait until it leaves. If necessary, making loud noises — such as shouting or banging with pots and pans — from a distance can also scare them away.
More information on bear safety is on the DNR’s website.
