Footage shared by Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Friday shows a black bear pulling on a door handle and opening the door of a pickup truck.
The video opened with the bear sniffing along the driver’s side of the silver truck parked on the side of the road. Once the animal made its way from the back bumper to the cab, it stood up and placed its paws on the handle of the back door.
The door popped open, and the bear pulled it back even more, to reveal a red-and-white cooler in the back seat of the truck.
Seemingly unphased, the bear attempted to climb into the cab and onto the cooler but ended up tumbling out of the truck, knocking the cooler out of the vehicle.
Using the now-overturned cooler as a stepping stool, the bear climbed back into the truck and managed to pull a satchel out of the cab with its mouth.
The bear then coolly sauntered away from the truck with the bag and scurried into the woods.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, with the advent of spring, bears have emerged from their winter hibernation and are beginning to search for food. CPW has already received 173 reports of bear activity in 25 Colorado counties this year.
400-POUND BEAR FOUND UNDER DECK OF COLORADO HOME
Wildlife officials strongly recommend that residents be bear aware and secure any containers or other objects that may attract bears, such as trash bins and bird feeders.
“Every time a bear gets a treat, a bird feeder, a hummingbird feeder, or trash, it teaches the bear that people mean food,” said Matt Yamashita, CPW’s area wildlife manager for Area 8 covering Aspen, Glenwood Springs and Eagle and Pitkin counties.
“People who think that it’s one time, no big deal, are totally wrong,” he noted. “It is a big deal when you compound that ‘one time’ with how many ‘one timers’ they get from your neighbors, too. It adds up.”
As seen in the above video, vehicles may also serve as attractants for bears. CPW has several recommendations for making sure vehicles are bear-proof:
For more information on how to protect homes from bears, check out the CPW website.