Here are some of the wildest things caught on doorbell cameras in 2023

Those doorbell cameras people bought to protect their pandemic deliveries continued to provide endless entertainment in post-pandemic 2023 by capturing footage of wild animals and even a pizza delivery guy foiling a robbery attempt.

Here are just some of the strange encounters that were caught on camera this year.

A pack of mountain lions

Animal sightings are obviously very common on doorbell cameras, with birds, squirrels and the occasional coyote routinely getting caught in the footage.

Not so common: mountain lions, which is why a Colorado woman was stunned to see a pack of them on her Ring camera casually strolling through her neighborhood back in April.

Carolyn Andrews told McClatchy News that she was actually overseas in England when she got a notification from her Ring camera and opened it to see five mountain lions walking right past her home in Silverthorne.

“I have seen mountain lions before but never five of them like this,” Andrews said. “There were two babies last year so this may be the whole family.”

Let’s hope!

Five baby foxes

Later the same month in Castle Rock, Colo., five baby foxes and their mom were spotted on a Ring camera playing on someone’s front patio.

According to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department, which posted the footage, momma foxes begin to leave their dens with their babies in April and May.

“We’re in baby fox season! Even though the kits are adorable, their moms have it covered and know how to raise them,” the agency said in a tweet. “The best thing you can do is leave them be and say ‘awwww.’”

And if you see a baby fox alone, best to leave it alone too. According to wildlife officials, babies are often left unattended to keep a predator’s attention away from it, and its mother will be back soon to take care of it.

A runaway emu

Forget about baby foxes and mountain lions. In Kent, England, last month, a pet emu that had escaped its home was caught on an elderly neighbor’s doorbell camera.

Maureen Roberts, 81, told Sky News that she was out to lunch with her daughter when she received an alert showing the emu investigating the doorbell camera.

"My dog was at home in the front room at the time," Roberts said. "I don't know what he would've thought seeing a giant bird like that."

Other neighbors secured the bird, named Rodney, and called police.

"A slightly different call … this afternoon,” Kent Police Tactical Operations said in a post on X. “One emu (Rodney) from the Maidstone area safely returned to his owners."

Florida boy who called 911 to hug an officer

While designed to deter robberies, doorbell cameras occasionally capture sweet human moments like this one in Florida, where a young boy called 911 because he simply wanted to hug a police officer.

Footage from a doorbell camera later posted to Facebook by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office shows Deputy Scott Pracht responding to the 911 call and talking to the boy's mom, who explained her son — who had called the number with a cellphone that only allows emergency calls — “doesn’t even know what 911 is."

When asked why he called the police, the boy said, “Well, I wanted to give him a hug.”

The officer obliged.

After hugging the boy, Pracht explained that 911 is for those who are in trouble and need help.

"It's very important," he said. "You need to be careful when you call that number, okay? Only in emergencies. And if you're hurt, or someone else is hurt, your mom needs help. You know, someone is doing something they're not supposed to do. Give us a call, okay?"

Lesson (hopefully) learned.

Pizza delivery guy who foiled a robbery

Doorbell cameras can capture footage of porch burglars. They can also catch the moment other thieves are caught.

That’s what happened in Brookhaven, Pa., back in April, when a teenage carjacking suspect being chased by police was tripped by a quick-thinking pizza delivery driver — all of it caught on a Ring camera.

Tyler Morrell, a driver for Cocco's Pizzeria, was delivering a pie to a home in the Philadelphia suburb when a stolen car police were pursuing crashed into a utility pole.

The teenage suspect then got out of the car and tried to escape on foot but was tripped by Morell.

“I started walking towards the road, but I couldn’t do anything with my hands because I’m holding the pizza, so I just stuck my leg out,” Morell told WPVI. "Honestly I didn’t really think about doing anything, but stepping in. I was raised to step in if you see something that’s not right. So, I just wanted to do my part."

Officers were right behind to detain the suspect. And miraculously, Morell managed to hold onto the pie.

"I did as much as I could to prevent the cheese from sliding," he said.