I feel for the owner's of the Prius. But they had fair notice: "There are signs posted at the trailhead and staff at Wild Basin are letting visitors know not to leave food or scented materials in their cars." On the other hand, I stand four-square behind the bear and what it did. I'll bet even this guy has a beer or two when he's off duty and takes off his hat: Is that, or is that not, a beer-gut in the making?
A bear's sense of smell is about 200 times better than the average dog's, and about 2,000 times better than a human's. We put scents in everything, and a bear knows you're there long before you have any idea. So, that pizza box you left in the car overnight about a week ago? He'll sniff out the lingering odour from miles away. At least this one was decent enough to use the door - it could have sliced the roof open, or flipped the car over to get at something underneath. Despite their strength, they can be surprisingly gentle. Around here, brave people employ them to guard their grow ops. Good bear. Sit. Atta boy. Have another brownie.
I'd heard of stories like this from a Canadian customer of mine, but I thought he was just exaggerating. I never imagined they could actually do this sort of damage to a car!
A big grizzly can be well over 600 kg. Leaving food in your car is like gift-wrapping for the bear - it makes it more fun to open. While bear attacks are rare, people are advised not to hike alone. That way, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend.
Poor bear. He probably got scared rolling backwards down the hill, and panicked trying to get out. If only he could drive standard, none of that would have happened.
It rolled downhill backwards, so when it stopped, the door slammed shut and it couldn't get back out. That's what I'm thinking anyway. (That means it somehow opened a door to get in.) He said he was woken at 3 am, I wonder if the alarm or the horn went off during this to wake him up. That would probably panic the bear some more.
