Pet parents can’t imagine life without their dogs or cats — and Susan Kehoe can’t imagine hers without her bears. Living on a wooded stretch of rural New Jersey, she’s spent years befriending the local black bears who regularly wander through her property. Her surprisingly calm encounters with them have gone viral again and again, but one recent visit might be her cutest (and closest) yet.
On November 20, Susan shared a video of a massive bear casually stealing her doormat from inside her house and dragging it outside to use as a pillow. Most people would’ve slammed the door and called 911, but Susan stayed as relaxed as if a neighbor had stopped by. Even when the bear turned back to growl his complaints about leaving, she barely reacted.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:
Somehow, this huge, powerful animal managed to look incredibly cozy and cuddly. Viewers were instantly smitten. One commenter joked, “Give him a warm bed and some porridge right now”—and honestly, the scene already looked straight out of Goldilocks.
Of course, Susan knows better than to offer a bedtime snack. She spends plenty of time around these bears, but she keeps her boundaries. She’s used to sharing her deck with them, watching cubs wander by every spring, and calmly filming it all. Still, this big guy clearly felt entitled to more. If he couldn’t stay inside, then neither could her rug. As one person put it, “He wants to be an indoor bear so bad.”
And who could blame him? With winter approaching, a warm house probably feels heavenly. Unlike their grizzly cousins, New Jersey’s black bears don’t fully hibernate. Instead, they enter a semi-sleepy state called torpor, where their heart rates slow and their bodies conserve energy. They spend more time tucked away in their dens but can wake up and wander whenever they feel like it.