Black bear raids California library on Winnie-the-Pooh's centenary

A black bear entered the public library of Mammoth Lakes, California, at ten past six on Wednesday morning and made for the staff's food supplies. The library was closed, no employees were present, and the surveillance cameras were the only witnesses. The date was 14 October — the hundredth anniversary of the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh.

The bear ate peanut butter, compote, cookies and a jar of honey, and the cameras recorded the whole morning excursion. How it got into the building remains unclear, KTLA reports. The library described the visit on its Facebook page, where director Josef Bopp welcomed the enthusiasm of the visitor while observing that food does not belong to the lendable collection.

The timing is the part nobody planned. A. A. Milne's book appeared on 14 October 1926, and its hero has spent the century since defined by a single appetite — honey, and the trouble it brings. Winnie-the-Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006; the bear in Mammoth Lakes marked the centenary in person, arriving before the staff did.

A library celebrating a book's centenary rarely receives a visit from its protagonist in the flesh. The staff were left with a Facebook post and an emptied pantry; the bear left no borrowing record behind.

The honey jar was not returned.