Liked the bear video! The Anchorage Daily News used to have a page just for "city bears", photos and video. The Anchorage Zoo was asked to have their bears test if a new type garbage can was really bear-proof. It was, but the video got lots of laughs. They didn't give it to the Brownies, only the Blackies.
I found a story in the Anchorage paper, not the video, unfortunately.
Do Postal employees get hazard pay in D.C.?
Bears test bear-resistant containers at Alaska Zoo.
www.alaskasnewssource.com
Live semi-rural within a mile of a salmon river, moose live here (hardly a week goes by without one in yard).
That means the bears hang around in early spring when they know the calves are being born. Then they travel through for the fishing. They ignore the Fish & Game regs, fish with multiple hooks too - 5 per paw.
Either way, you are seriously dumb to leave out garbage, or a bowl of pet food. Garbage bears know to associate porches, garages, and outdoor freezers with food. Those are the ones Fish & Game shoot, if they can. It's illegal for us to shoot a bear out-of-season, except to defend your life. You will probably be forgiven for saving your dog.
We have a "transfer site", a local place with dumpsters, to take garbage, instead of driving another 20 miles to town. The sign says "honk for bears". Yeah, right. We all figure that's a dinner bell for them. The dumpsters are supposed to be bear-proof - unless some numbskull leaves the door open.
Our rural PO Box got taken out by the snow plow about a year after we moved here. That was okay. We had gotten a PO Box at the Post Office (5 miles) due to a gang robbing boxes. Besides, when you get a package the size of the ones in that video, you have to go to the Post Office, anyway. They ought to put in an espresso stand - we all stand around and talk, read the community bulletin board, anyway, so why shouldn't the P.O. make a profit?
Some of us live right on the street, but there are some long driveways, and some very bad ones. Some people don't plow good. I'm glad we taxpayers don't have to pay the mail carriers to go down each one.
UPS will deliver to your porch if you add yourself to that list. We had gotten to know our driver, so we just told her. We have a porch with cover, keeps rain/snow off. So far, so good.
FED-EX is trickier, 30 miles. Getting to their office for pickup is a pain, especially due to short hours. We get very short knocks on door and they are gone.
In this time of Covid, we really limit our trips to town.
I'm not sure if a bear has ever gone after a non-food package, but they'll check out picnic coolers if you don't wash them out. They can even break into RVs.
Still, consider the cost of Northshore. Some neighbors have built a "bear-proof-weather-proof-container" on the porch for deliveries - of anything. Keeps the delivery out of the public eye, too.
P.S. They got the gang robbing mail boxes, about 12-13 year ago. They are all out of jail, now. (Well, some are back in.) I heard that the people who lost Social Security checks got replacements.