North Conway man needed 16 stitches after an encounter with a Dumpster-diving black bear during the weekend.

Jeff Allard said he was taking out the trash at his apartment complex Sunday night and didn't notice a bear rummaging inside the trash bin. Allard said he tossed his trash into the bin, startling the bear.

"I got about to here and tossed the bag in, and out popped the bear's head and his arm," Allard said. "And his left paw was somewhere up here, swinging."

The bear scratched Allard's shoulder as it was clawing its way out of the bin. Allard had three 5-inch cuts on his shoulder, but he said he should be OK.

"Had it been six inches to the left, it could have been the side of my throat or it could have been one of my kids," he said.

Allard said he stumbled back in shock and out of instinct drew a handgun he keeps at his side. But he said he quickly realized that the bear meant no harm.

"He kind of had that look on his face -- if a bear could have a look on his face -- as if to say, 'I really didn't mean that,'" Allard said.

Brian Abrams of New Hampshire Fish and Game said most trash bins in the area have a bar across the top, making them bear-proof. But this bear, thought to be a 300-pound male black bear, squeezed through a side access door and couldn't easily get out.

"Black bears, when they have contact with humans, they'll normally run off, or they'll go up a tree to escape," Abrams said. "They're not looking for contact with people."

Allard said the bear eventually shimmied his way out the side door of the trash bin and then ran off into the woods. Allard went to a hospital, where he got 16 stitches.

It's an experience he said he hopes to never have again. But it's one that got him out of trash duty, for now.

"I haven't taken the trash out since," he said.

Allard said that when he does take the trash out again, he'll check to make sure the side door to the trash bin is shut.

Editor's Note: For further information about bear proof garbage bins, click here...