ASPEN — Bears in search of food are in for a shock at Main Street Bakery & Cafe in Aspen.
Bill Dinsmoor, owner of the restaurant, has found a way to protect food locked in an outdoor freezer: electricity.
The freezer was broken into four or five times by bears, but since Dinsmoor installed a high-voltage, low-amp electrified mat about a month ago, he said he has had no problems with bruins.
“It seems to have worked brilliantly to keep my bear at bay,” he said. “The two bears tormenting me all summer are totally gone.”
Dinsmoor said his neighbor recently watched a bear try to enter the freezer but was deterred because it kept getting shocked from stepping on the horizontal mat in front of it.
The way it works is that when a bear’s paws hit both sides of the mat it receives a slight shock. Employees accessing the freezer don’t get shocked because they are wearing shoes.
Read the rest of this story, including what the Division of Wildlife has to say, at .
