If you out in the woods today… you’ll get less of a surprise than a startled car owner in Connecticut who found a bear and its cub inside its vehicle.
The mammals destroyed the inside of the hatchback while the horn was blaring and the radio blasting, witnesses said.
Outside the vehicle, a second cub ran around in apparent distress near a property in Winsted.
State environmental conservation police were called by the car owner on the morning of July 15.
They opened a door, and the two bears ran off into the woods safe and sound with the third bear.
The car’s interior, however, was completely torn apart by the animals.
Officials believe they got in the vehicle by opening a door, but it is not clear how the door then closed.
The bears managed to open a door to get in the car… but it’s not clear how it then closed
The bears tore it apart before they were freed by state environmental conservation police
The bears destroyed the inside of the car while the horn was blaring and the radio blasting
The two bears ran off into the woods safe and sound with the third bear when freed by police
Over the past week, there have been three episodes involving bears in Connecticut that were publicly reported by the state’s environmental protection agency.
On Saturday, a woman reported being bitten by a black bear in a backyard in Cheshire.
She suffered minor injuries and declined treatment, officials said.
Environmental conservation police found and euthanised the bear, which was taken away for testing.
Ethan Van Ness, a senior adviser at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said: ‘Always keep your car doors locked if bears occur in your area and never allow them easy access to human-sourced food.’
State officials said bears began returning to the region in the 1980s and their populations have been steadily increasing.
There are now up to 1,200 bears in Connecticut, with sightings in all 169 towns in recent years but more concentrated in the state’s northwestern corner.
