Bear enters into Fort McMurray home through bedroom window

Last week, the Reddy family had a close encounter with a black bear at their home near Fort McMurray, Alta.

First, the bear entered into the open garage while Sean Reddy was at home with two of his four children. The bear left, apparently fleeing back into the woods.

"Then [my younger son], he came out the front door and kind of was like, 'What are you guys doing? There's all sorts of scratching in the house,'" Reddy said.

"I was like, 'OK, what do you mean?' My oldest boy ran into the house and he came out and he's like, 'The bear's in the hallway!' OK. That changes things."

The bear hadn't left - it had opened a screen window and fidgeted his way into a bedroom, wandering about.

"We decided to try and barricade off the hallway, open the door and let the bear hopefully wander back out the way he came in," said Reddy.

"I could hear him snorting in there and my son had half a bowl of cereal probably left on his computer desk and we heard the bowl smash and hit the ground. I was thinking, 'What's he doing? Destroying the room?'"

By piling furniture, they managed to redirect the bear towards the window he came in by.

"It seemed pretty docile. This time of year, they [bears] are pretty comatose. They are fat, lazy, and tired," said Reddy, who didn't feel threatened.

Reddy said that after leaving his home, the bear visited other properties, including venturing into the open garage of his mother's property just down the road.

Ina Lucila, spokesperson for Alberta Fish and Wildlife, said that a bear entering a house is rare.

"Bears may wander into human-populated areas this time of year to eat as much as possible to pack on the calories to survive winter, she said. "It is of utmost importance that residents continue to properly secure any possible attractants."

Reddy said his family will make sure to keep their windows closed going forward.

"I never worried about it before, but now this has happened," he said.