A hiker has shared a video of her first encounter with a black bear in the Canadian Rockies, prompting alarm from viewers who noticed that the animal could have easily reached her through an unlocked car door.
Nature-lover Eilish Bridey was delighted to see the inquisitive bear, laughing as it pawed at the car where she was a passenger, and tried to chew on the side mirror until her travelling companion scared it off with the horn.
"Thanks bud, needed a new a paint job anyways." she wrote on Instagram. "What an INSANE experience. He was so cute, but safe to say the closest I ever want to be!
The encounter passed without incident, but things could have easily taken a different turn. Black bears are intelligent opportunists, and there are countless records of them breaking into parked cars by opening unlocked doors. In June this year, a security camera in Colorado caught a hungry animal easily opening the passenger door of a parked truck in search of food.
"Bears are smart," officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "Once humans teach them that cars and homes hold tasty rewards, bears will search for a way inside. They learn quickly how to open doors and windows."
Bears are smart. Once humans teach them that cars and homes hold tasty rewards, bears will search for a way inside. They learn quickly how to open doors and windows. Then they will repeat the behavior even when now food is inside, as was the case in Woodland Park on Friday. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/AdCJvjKWYkJune 5, 2023
It's possible that the bear Bridey met in the Rockies may also have become food conditioned as a result of other videos feeding it from their cars, hence its bold behavior and willingness to approach vehicles.
- The best binoculars: enjoy watching wildlife from a safe distance
