Vail woman scares away bear in her home with pillow

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Here’s a pillow fight Sally Rebehn is glad she won.

Confronted by a bear in the bedroom of her west Vail home a few weeks ago, Rebehn screamed and decided to fling a pillow at the animal, which was standing on its hind legs 12 feet from her. The pillow attack worked.

Rebehn said the bear fled to another room of the home, where Rebehn lives with her son’s family. Police eventually chased away the bear, along with her three cubs, including one that also got into the home.

‘I was so scared. I bet the people across the creek thought I was getting murdered,’ Rebehn said. She said she first thought it was her dog that had followed her into her bedroom.

‘No way I thought there would be a bear in the bedroom,’ she told the Vail Daily newspaper Tuesday.

The bear and her cubs later returned to the family’s property several times — and tried unsuccessfully to enter the home again.

On Friday, Colorado Division of Wildlife officers captured the animals. The mother bear and the cub that went into the home were euthanized, while the other two cubs were relocated because they seemed to be afraid of humans, said Randy Hampton, a DOW spokesman.

‘Once bears learn they can get food in homes, there’s not a lot you can do to keep them from getting into homes,’ Hampton said.

-- Associated Press