We’ve heard of several bear adventures in the recent past where, for some reason, bears end up inside unlocked cars, likely in search of food.
Guessing Headlights recently reported a bear encounter in which a car owner was surprised to find a bear inside their SUV in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, when they approached their car in the morning. All the animal eventually took away was some food.
Another encounter was reported from Colorado, where a man spotted a bear cub in the driver’s seat of his pickup truck. The cub was rather hesitant to leave the vehicle.
Now, an incident from Gold Hill, Colorado has come to light, where a large bear locked itself inside an SUV at night, but the honking made the owner think it was one of his neighbors.
Bear Spent All Night in the Car
@nbcnewsA man in Colorado rescued a bear after it had locked itself inside a car.♬ original sound – nbcnews
A video posted by NBC News on social media shows a large bear sitting in the front passenger seat of a parked SUV. It had apparently entered the vehicle during the night before, accidentally locking itself inside.
It is likely that the owner did not lock the SUV at night, allowing the bear to open the door and enter the vehicle. Would it have perceived the vehicle as a giant, cozy cave after opening the door? Only the bear can answer that!
Unfortunately, the door must have shut somehow, locking the bear inside the vehicle. While bears have been known to open car doors from the outside, they often struggle to open them from the inside once trapped.
The SUV owner mentioned in the video that he heard someone honking all night and thought it was a crazy neighbor. However, it was actually the bear sitting on the horn.
Clever Bear Rescue Goes According to Plan
The video then demonstrates how the bear was rescued. The SUV owner tied a long rope to the vehicle’s rear passenger door handle and walked to a safe distance so that when the bear got out, it wouldn’t be able to reach him.
He then pulled the other end of the rope to unlock the door, and and within a few seconds, the bear exited the vehicle and went into the woods.
It is not known whether there was any food in the car that could have attracted the bear the previous night. If there was, it is a good reminder not to store any in the vehicle if there are bears in the area.
Drivers should also remember to lock their vehicle’s doors at night, even if the vehicle is parked within their private property. Judging by the number of similar incidents we’ve reported, bears seem to have a surprising fascination with cars, making it all the more important to keep vehicles locked.