Cartwright teen shaken after kitchen encounter with bear

A teenager on the southeast coast of Labrador was too scared to move when he encountered an intruder in his kitchen.

Kyle Burdett,15, was home alone in Cartwright when a black bear pushed open the front door and strolled down the hall, stopping about 10 feet away from where he was sitting in the living room.

"I heard some knocking outside and then he just came around the corner ... I just couldn't move,'" he said.

Kyle used his phone to message his older brother for help, who in turn called their father who was visiting a relative nearby.

I thought I was going to die.  I thought that bear was going to eat me last night.- Kyle Burdett

"I threw the phone down and ran out,'" said Kyle's father Dwayne Burdett.

By the time Burdett made it home, the bear was gone, but not before giving the teenager the fright of his life.

"The bear stopped less than 10 feet from Kyle and looked at him and growled," Burdett said, recounting what his son told him.

"And the bear then turned around and walked back out the hallway into the bedroom and went on back out the front door again."

The provincial wildlife department has said most bears that visit communities are juveniles, who are less familiar with their territory and food sources.

"Kyle said it was a big bear, but then again, I guess when you're 10 feet away from a bear in your kitchen any bear looks big," said Burdett.

• Free food an attraction as bears 'all over town' in Cartwright

The bear didn't do any damage to the house, but Burdett said the family is shaken up by the incident, which happened Monday July 9.

"It's very upsetting, especially for Kyle, he's having a hard time ... [he said] 'Dad, I thought I was going to die. I thought that bear was going to eat me.'

​"You try to calm him down ... you try to say, 'Look it's only a bear, you've got nothing to be afraid of, usually they're more afraid of you than your are of them,' but apparently not the case with the ones around here."