Coquitlam RCMP are reminding everyone to be “bear smart” after one locked itself inside a car Thursday morning.
Spokesperson Alexa Hodgins said the vehicle owner called officers around 10:30 a.m. to the Belcarra area, a village northwest of Port Moody known to be frequented by black bears.
When police arrived, Hodgins said they found the bear locked inside the car.
“They did note that there was some heavy condensation inside and it was quite warm at that time of day, so they acted very quickly and broke the back window of the vehicle in order for the bear to escape safely,” Hodgins said.
Hodgins said most people lock their vehicle doors to prevent situations like this, but in this “unfortunate circumstance,” the owner accidentally left one of the doors unlocked.
“They actually did see a paw print on the driver-side door handle from the outside, and then the inside was completely in shambles,” Hodgins said, adding the mechanism to lock and unlock the door was also destroyed.
“Due to the extensive damage inside of the vehicle, officers weren’t even able to tell if there was any sort of attractant that maybe the bear might have smelled or sensed in the vehicle.”
Other than seeming to be in some distress from being locked inside, Hodgins said it didn’t appear the bear was injured,
“The bear did run away pretty quickly.”
While Belcarra is close to two ‘Bear Smart’ communities, Port Moody and Coquitlam, Hodgins said RCMP are using this incident as a reminder for everyone sharing spaces with wildlife to do their part to prevent human-bear conflicts by securing attractants, such as garbage, and securing homes and vehicles.
“People should be more cognizant of their surroundings as bear contact might become more frequent as they are searching for food to eventually hibernate in the winter in the coming months,” Hodgins said.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said it was aware of the incident but was not involved and that no enforcement action would be taken.
It’s also encouraging British Columbians to not leave food or other attractants in their vehicles.
Last year, the province saw the deadliest year for black bears in a decade, with more than 600 of the wild animals killed, and the BCCOS said the number one reason is because they became habituated to garbage left outside.
According to the latest provincial predator statistics, conservation officers had killed 29 bears by the end of April compared to 23 during the same period last year.
Port Moody has officially been given the province’s “Bear Smart” designation – as part of an effort to build communities where people and bears can coexist in urban environments. As CBC’s Michelle Morton reports, it comes after conservation officers killed a decade-high number of black bears last year.