Police in Colorado have warned residents about keeping food in their vehicles after a hungry bear broke into a car before becoming stuck and trashing its interior.
Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook on Monday that police were called out to a report that a bear was stuck in a car.
“A very good reason NOT to leave food in your vehicle,” they said in a post alongside footage of the dramatic incident.
In the clip, an officer can be seen opening the door of the car before a bear runs out and scampers into a nearby wooded area.
“The bear did so much damage to the inside of the car that Deputy Zipf could not let it out through the back sliding car doors and the only option was from the driver door,” the department explained.
Authorities said that the bear’s two cubs “watched nearby waiting for their mother to be released from the car”.
Following the first attempt to free the bear, the animal “ended closing the door shut again, with herself still inside”.
“In the end, the owner was just glad the bear was released from the car,” police said. The mother was reunited with her cubs and police made sure the animals left the residential area.
No one was injured during the altercation.
Images shared by the department illustrated the shocking extent of the damage done to the car by the bear.
The interior was completely destroyed and the left-hand door's inner panel door had been entirely torn apart.
The incident is not the first time such a hazardous situation has occurred. This week, wildlife officials in the state warned residents to lock windows and doors after a bear broke into eight vehicles.
“While not all of the vehicles had food or attractants, some bears go from car to car just to see if they’re unlocked, then hope to find food,” they said.
In 2018, a sheriff’s office in California made a similar warning to residents after a bear became stuck while searching for food.
The bear became trapped inside a Subaru Outback at California’s Lake Tahoe and had so badly mauled the inside of the car that the locks and doors were no longer functioning.
Officers were forced to break the windows in that instance to free the bear.
The US Forest Service warns that “bears are always searching for food” saying they are “curious, intelligent animals that have great memories”.
Their website says: “Their eyesight is similar to humans and their sense of smell is seven times more powerful than a blood hound’s, enabling them to smell food from miles away.”
