Goldilocks revistied ?

A West Vancouver woman came home to find a bear munching porridge in her kitchen. The bear was said to have entered the house through an open sliding door, the Vancouver Province newspaper reported.

"It sounds like a nursery rhyme," Sgt Paul Skelton told the paper.

But unlike Goldilocks - caught stealing food in the Three Bears' house in the popular children's story - this bear did not flee when found.

"It appeared to be a one to two-year-old bear - a juvenile - within the kitchen enjoying some oatmeal it had obtained by breaking a ceramic food container," Sgt Skelton said.

"When she saw it, she did the right thing. She vacated the area and called us."

But the bear paid scant attention as police arrived on the scene, and continued tucking in with little sign of fear or remorse.

"The bear didn't appear to be aggressive and wasn't destroying the house, so they just let it do what it was doing.

"Eventually the bear decided to make its way out of the residence and down toward a forested gully," Sgt Skelton said.

Intrusions are common in the area as bears come out of hibernation, the paper reported, and are happening later than usual this year because of heavy winter snows, according to police.