Coquitlam police say they freed a bear Thursday morning from inside an unlocked car where it had wreaked havoc.
The RCMP says it received a report around 10:30 a.m. from a car owner in Belcarra, a village north-west of Coquitlam, that a black bear had apparently entered and become trapped inside their vehicle.
Corp. Alexa Hodgins of the Coquitlam RCMP says the bear had apparently struggled to escape before officers and the BC Conservation Service arrived on scene.
“The bear, in the best terms, completely destroyed the inside of the car — ripping panels off the door, destroying the front console seats — anything that it possibly could in an effort to escape what can only be believed to be a very hot vehicle,” said Hodgins.
She says police and the car owner found the windows of the vehicle covered heavily with condensation, adding that they believed the bear could be overheating inside.
Police determined that breaking the back window was the safest way to free the bear, by giving it the most “surface area” to escape.
Hodgins says the car owner did the right thing by calling the RCMP at the sight of a bear, but adds that everyone in the area should ensure they lock all doors, garbage cans, and vehicles.
“As you can imagine, they were pretty surprised to find a bear inside their vehicle. Typically, they do lock their their vehicle, but when police officers arrived, they did see a paw print on the door handle, so it was pretty apparent that the vehicle was inadvertently left unlocked, which caused the bear to be able to go inside.”