A Maple Ridge family will be getting repairs to their car after an unwanted visitor got inside the vehicle.
Just days after two people were attacked in Squamish, B.C., a seemingly large bear has torn through a car in Maple Ridge.
“There was a window on the ground and paw prints on the door,” said Stefan Halas. “We knew instantly it must have been a bear. It kind of turned my car into a pop can and crushed it.”
Halas lives in the Silver Valley area of Maple Ridge, which he says is teeming with wildlife but this car break-in was a little too wild for him.
Autumn is an important time for bears because they have to beef up before hibernating.
“(Bears) need to have 24 per cent or higher body fat in order to reproduce the following season,” said Ellie Lamb, a bear behaviour expert.
A leftover lunch forgotten in a Halas’ car may be what motivated the bear break in. But, it appears the bear has been practicing his moves on unlocked vehicles.
“(The bear) was using the handles on the car. The bear got his claws in there and pulled them open,” said Anne Taylor, Stefan’s mother.
“All of our car doors were open and our neighbour’s car doors were open too.”
Lamb, the bear behavior expert, said the public can break the bear’s bad habit.
“Firmly tell the bears to move on, if the car is sniffing around the car start the car alarm,” Lamb told Global News “That should be enough to deter them.”
The Maple Ridge family said they learned their lesson and will be locking their car doors, and not leaving leftover lunches inside their vehicles.
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