VIDEO – After a bear visited the drive-thru at Powell River Tim Hortons in the early morning of Monday, August 8, owner Calvin Giesbrecht thought he was seeing double, or maybe even double double.
Giesbrecht received a call at home from a staff member who reported that a set of outdoor disposal bins had been tipped over into the drive-thru lane, an act Giesbrecht initially attributed to vandals. Overnight surveillance footage told a very different story, however. Tim Hortons had in fact received a visit from a hungry black bear.
At 2:09 am, the video shows the animal approaching the speaker box before continuing past the menu board toward a garbage and bottle receptacle. After disappearing behind the unit for several seconds, the bear re-emerges and proceeds to push the receptacle onto its side and rummage through its contents.
“It was quite comical when I saw it because he walked right past the box as if ordering,” said Giesbrecht. “It was quite funny.”
The footage continues for several minutes with the bear standing on top of the disposal unit then taking a brief walk before perusing its contents one last time.
Giesbrecht said the receptacles were empty, having been changed before the graveyard shift began. “They always get changed at 10 o’clock before our third person on shift goes home,” he said. “There wasn’t anything in there for him to even get at.”
Laurence Edwards, coordinator for Bear Aware Powell River, commended the restaurant’s diligence in garbage disposal, reminding other local businesses to “take the same responsible attitude as Tim Hortons with regard to their garbage situation.
“A bear is a food machine,” he continued. “Especially at this time of year, when they’re building up their fat levels, all they’re interested in is eating and if there’s nothing there, they’re not going to hang around.” By changing disposal units frequently and keeping dumpsters locked or well-enclosed, businesses and residents can help cut down on the number of bear sightings in urban areas.
“People need to be much more conscious about the attractions that they leave lying around,” he said. “It’s getting to the fact now that a fed bear is likely going to be a dead bear.”
In the case of Tim Hortons, the restaurant’s unlikely customer ended up neither fed nor dead. After coming up empty, the animal took its business elsewhere.
Later that morning, Giesbrecht and his staff restored the slightly squashed and scraped receptacle to its original position. “I did my best to make it look as new again as possible,” he said, citing the high cost of a replacement. “I’m just hoping he doesn’t come back and finish it off.”
The incident went completely unnoticed by customers and staff inside the restaurant, which was open during the animal’s visit. Regardless, Giesbrecht said the bear could not have been served at the pickup window even if it had placed an order properly and politely. For safety reasons, the drive-thru is for cars only.
The surveillance footage can be viewed in the video below.
