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Brandan Smith stepped outside his house in rural Coshocton on a mild evening in mid July after hearing an unexpected sound outside. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a huge, imposing figure in his driveway, sifting through the rubbish containers and cardboard boxes he had set out for collection the next day.
"I immediately turned around, went back inside the house and slammed the door," Smith recalled. "That image of something huge spooked me. And it just kind of dawned on me: It’s a bear."
Convinced that nobody would believe him without proof, Smith retrieved his mobile phone, summoned his courage and went back outside to capture the animal on video.
"Sure enough, the bear was still there, eating garbage," Smith said. "I’d just gotten done cleaning out the deep freezer, and it was into the old freezer-burned ice cream."
According to Smith, the animal appeared entirely unfazed by his presence, despite him standing merely 25 feet away. Uncertain of how to react, Smith contacted the police. He then observed the bear rummaging through his rubbish until a police car arrived half an hour later, driving the creature away with a powerful spotlight.
