Parks where bears dwell may put up signs to warn people to be careful with their food, but they may need to put up signs telling people to be careful with their electronic devices. A bear in California's San Bernardino National Forest stole an iPad.
Jesse Dinkel was fishing at Jenks Lake on Saturday when he witnessed a bear walk up to a fisherman's belongings, steal his backpack and take of running. The bear was probably searching for some snacks as the backpack contained a granola bar, but it also contained the fisherman's iPad.
Dinkel, 44, then set up a camera and managed to catch the bear coming back to steal a container of food. Onlookers attempted to scare the bear off by making noises and whistling, but the bear was determined to find some lunch.
"The tupperware did get recovered. Just down the hill a ways," said Dinkel.
Meanwhile, the fisherman made an attempt to get his iPad back.
"He didn't get real close. But he kind of followed it to see if it would drop his backpack. The bear went all the way down the hill, don't know what happened to it after that," Dinkel told ABC News.
While the iPad's owner probably wasn't laughing, fellow fisherman joked around and said "Good luck explaining that to the insurance company," according to Dinkel.
It isn't rare to see a bear in the Jenks Lake area, but the visitors were a bit surprised at how close the bear came.
"I go fishing all the time. It's the first time I've seen bears, but I've had friends that have seen them at Jenks Lake before. But not this close," Dinkel told ABC. "The bear wasn't afraid. Everyone was yelling at it and it just kept walking closer."
Park rangers arrived at the scene, but they were not able to locate the iPad. The device had a built in tracking system, but it wasn't receiving a signal from wherever it was in the forest. The rangers advised the other people to clean up so the bears wouldn't be tempted to come back.
"They came down and assessed the situation, and just told people to clean up their stuff around there. But the bear never came back after that," said Dinkel.
The iPad still hasn't been found.
Recently, a traveler who lost his iPad on a plane was able to track it down using the "Find my iPad" app. He found that the iPad was located in the home of a flight attendant from his plane. The flight attendant was arrested.
