A large 500-pound bear named ‘Hank the Tank" recently made headlines at Lake Tahoe after being blamed for breaking into 28 homes.  Well, there's a similar situation happening in here in Western Pennsylvania. A big black bear is looking for food and is not letting a locked door stop him from having a nice meal.

A trap full of sweet goodies is set and waiting for a bear to return to a property in Frenchcreek Township, outside of Franklin.  The question is, will the bear go into the trap, or will it break into a garage like it did two times before?

On Wednesday of last week, the bear entered the Johnson family's unattached garage by forcing open a side door. Karen Johnson's husband Randy spotted the damage the next day.

"He thought he left the garage door open,” said Karen.  “Then, when he looked, he could see that the hinge on the door frame was broken.  He went in to do a further investigation and the bird seed was all over the garage floor."

Mr. Johnson tightly secured the side door in case the bear returned. He also installed a security camera. And yes, the bear did return the very next night.  The large animal couldn't get in to the side door, so it simply bounced into the retractable door at the front until the bottom portion became loose. The bear ripped it open like it was nothing.

"He found the suet again.  We thought we had sealed it up tight and he went right after the suet again,” said Karen.

Andrew Kopec, a State Game Warden, responded to the Johnson property the next day, bringing with him the steel bear trap.   The trap was loaded with Clark's Donuts, a Venango County favorite. 

It's been a week, but the bear hasn't returned.

"Sometimes a bear just might be passing through and it will be a one-off ordeal.  Other times they work almost on a circuit.  He might be back through and frequent the area, but it just depends on that individual bear,” says Kopec.

Kopec has examined the pictures of the black bear taken by the security camera.  He says this bear is big...very big. 

"Initially when I saw the pictures of it, it's definitely a substantial sized bear at least over 500 pounds I would say."

Over 500 pounds!  That’s the same size as Hank the Tank, the black bear that made all those national headlines at Lake Tahoe.  Maybe this Venango County bear also needs a name.

"We call him Yogi, Yogi Bear," says Karen.

Yogi is a cute name.  However, there's nothing cute about the damage a big black bear can do to your property and the possibility that it might choose to avoid the garage and break into your house.

"I want him out of here.  I want him out of here,” says Karen.