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Pittsburgh Zoo Educates Public About Bear Safety

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Millions of Americans enjoy camping during the summer months.

However, few things are as frightening as being in a tent when a bear pays a visit.

The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium set up a special display today to show campers how to share the woods with the bears.

Nothing is better for a bear than when you camp in their backyard.

"You are inviting them in because it's like making breakfast and everybody knows you are cooking eggs or something that smells real good and you are inviting them to come in," Mo Brown from the Zoo said.

Our friends at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium set up a mock campsite inside the bear exhibit to show what can happen.

Some grapes left in the arm of a chair were a perfect lunchtime snack. One bear smelled something inside the cooler and it didn't take long to pry it open and get the sweet treats inside.

"Luckily, we don't have honey and raisins in our cooler. We have drinks and hopefully aren't so alluring for a bear," Laura Promer said.

You should always camp in open areas away from thick brush, trails, or streams and always sleep in a tent for safety.

However, don't leave food in your tent because that's an open invitation to trouble.

Even the youngest visitors had it all figured out after watching the bears make themselves right at home in the make-shift camp.

"They were eating fish. They still haven't found the raisins and they've been eating paper from a paper tent and they have been licking honey," Anson He said.

It's safe to say the Zoo visitors learned their lesson.

"We never ever bring food in the tent," Katy Roderick said.

RELATED LINKS

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Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
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