Barefoot Vermont Governor Chased By Bears After Daring Birdfeeder Rescue (UPDATE: He Was Also Naked)
Who would you rather have as a leader: A man who runs into a burning building to rescue a woman, or a man who will put his life in danger to save the seeds in his birdfeeder from a pack of roving bears?
While Newark mayor Corey Booker was playing firefighter or whatever, Vermont governor Peter Shumlin was busy getting "chased and nearly caught by four bears" in his own backyard. I'll let the AP take it from here:
Shumlin says he was in bed in his rented Montpelier home late Wednesday night when he heard what turned out to be four bears in the backyard.
He says he looked out and saw the bears, including two cubs. He tried to chase the bears away, but they kept coming back.
Shumlin says he ran out barefoot in an attempt to rescue his birdfeeders. He says one of the bears charged him on the porch.
"I yell at them through the window, they run away, and come right back," Shumlin told the Valley News yesterday. "First, I scare them away, and they keep coming back. So I go out and grab two of the feeders, run back into the house, then they come back, they knock the suet out, then knock the big feeder down, and they are going at it."
Shumlin joke that the green mountain state "almost lost the governor" that night: "I was within three feet of getting ‘arrrh.'" (Scary bear noise, we think.)
There is said to be video evidence of the face-off.
UPDATE: Adrian, my coworker and fellow Vermonter, dug up another crucial detail to Shumlin's harrowing night, via the Burlington Free Press: "On the bright side, Shumlin is an avid runner, so he said he was able to move pretty quickly away from the bears. On the negative side, the governor said he wasn't exactly dressed for an outdoor tangle with wildlife. 'Real Vermont boys don't wear pajamas,' he said."
