A homeowner in British Columbia recently learned that a bear that wakes up from hibernation can be very thirsty. That, and he is a sweet tooth!
Sharon Rosel woke up around 3 a.m. on April 13th after her dog began barking at the window. When she investigated she spotted a large black bear breaking into her car! The bear smashed the window of her Suzuki truck outside of her Earl’s Cove home so he could get at the six cases of soda pop she had inside.
Rosel told the Coast Reporter she bought the cases of soda that day for her food truck (Sharon’s Grill-It!) and thought the cans would be okay for one night in her vehicle. She says she regularly practices bear deterrence after a bear once broke into her vehicle to grab a goldfish cracker that was stuck in her grandchild’s car seat. But she never imagined a bear would not only smell pop through a can.
“He was in pretty good shape, but he was hungry and that was my mistake. I never thought it could smell pop through a can,” Rosel said.
She watched as the bear proceeded to open the soft drink cans and drink 69 of 72 of them! It should be noted the bear didn’t touch the three diet pops and really enjoyed the Orange Crush flavor.
It also turns out the bear is a very messy drinker and ended up saturating her car with the sticky drinks and staining her white leather interior seats orange.
According to the North Shore News the bear also damaged the Suzuki’s soft top and pulled off the window cranks. The bear also came back the very next night, thinking maybe he’d be lucky a second time. But this time there was no food for him to sniff out and Rosel’s dog scared the bear off.
Of her experience Rosel advises others: “Do not underestimate their sense of smell. We have to be bear aware. We have to live with them, and bears have memories.”
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