As camping season rolls around, we just want to remind you that despite being decently human-proof, a locked car is no match against a hungry (or in this case, thirsty) force of nature. Just last week, in Earls Cove, British Columbia, a black bear broke into a food truck owner’s personal vehicle in pursuit of the treats being stored inside it. Namely, 69 cans of soda.
The Coast Reporter reports that the hulking troublemaker busted into Earls Cove resident Sharon Rosel’s car in the wee hours of the morning on April 13, seeking the sweet nectar inside six cases of soda. It managed to crush (literally and figuratively) 69 of the 72 cans before it bailed.
Rosel, who witnessed the incident from inside her home, knows all too well what bears are capable of when they’re in search of food. She told the Coast Reporter that on a previous occasion, a bear had broken into her car seeking a dropped Goldfish cracker that had landed in her grandchild’s car seat. But in this case, she was surprised by the bear’s superhero-level sense of smell.
“He was hungry and that was my mistake,” she said. “I never thought it could smell pop through a can.”
The bear seemed to be a particular fan of Orange Crush, as that was the one splattered all over the interior of the SUV. (I love a bear with good taste.) Rosel said she could even hear it slurping through the commotion, crushing each can with its jaws to get to the liquid within them. Maybe it bears mentioning that the untouched cans were all diet soda.
The car sustained a fair amount of damage, including the soft top and the window cranks (it’s insured and is already being repaired). While the vehicle was unlocked at the time of the break-in, whether or not it had been locked is irrelevant, since the bear smashed the window to gain entry. To top things off, the bear came back the very next night seeking more sustenance, but Rosel’s dog was able to scare it off. Bears tend to move on if a given food source is depleted.
In a video shared by 23 ABC News, Rosel maintains a sense of humor about the whole thing.
“I tried reasoning with him,” she says in the video. “I explained to him how important the car was and that I had to go to work the next morning. That didn’t seem to affect him whatsoever.” Hey, at least she tried, right?
Bears, specifically, can go the extra mile when they sense food. In 2021, a California resident found two bear cubs had broken into his house in search of a bucket of KFC that had been sitting on the kitchen counter. And we won’t even get started on “Hank the Tank,” a bear who was once responsible for breaking into over two dozen homes in Lake Tahoe, or the band of bears that broke into an occupied cabin in Tennessee and managed to take down an enormous amount of snacks (and also candy and soda) before making their successful getaway.
If you do find yourself in an unfortunate situation with a black bear, be careful. Adults can range between 130 to 660 pounds, so keep your distance, and if one breaks into your house, get out of there, call your local animal control agency, and don’t block its way out. What’s a few (dozen) cans of soda worth anyway, right?