Depending on where you live, dealing with bears can be a real concern. Stories about bears getting into cars then ripping them apart are common with local news stations. Heck, bears have no problem ripping their way into tents and into some campers. Basically, if a bear is hungry enough and thinks there’s some food to be had, it might work its way into your car, tent, or camper.
Sometimes, you may run into a campground that doesn’t allow tents or tent-based campers because of bear activity. Today, I wrote about the Aliner hard-sided pop-up camper that touts the lack of canvas as a benefit. Among with better insulation and protection from strong storms, Aliner campers tout better security from wildlife than a pop-up tent camper. Sure, a bear could still rip through this camper, but it’ll have to try a little harder than slashing its way through the canvas of a typical pop-up camper.
Well, that’s when reader DarKhorse taught me something with just a simple sentence:
Oh my dear Mercedes, you ALWAYS have to worry about bears.
This video came attached to that comment:
Look, the first bear opening the car door was surprising enough, but the second bear opening another door just blew my mind. And it wasn’t like these bears were just clawing at the doors and they just happened to open. No, instead, they just opened the doors like one bear was going to drive the other to work. Oy vey!
This sent me down a rabbit hole, where I discovered that bears will absolutely get into whatever the heck they want. Here’s a bear breaking down a cabin’s door like it’s the FBI:
Here’s a bear breaking into a cop shop like a total badass:
Oh, and here’s a bear popping the door of a pickup truck and taking some poor driver’s snacks:
I’ve camped in bear country before, thinking that staying in a locked truck would keep me safe enough. Well, it looks like bears can do whatever the heck they want. I suppose the point here is that hot damn, bears are adorable, clever animals. I wonder, can we teach a bear how to drive?
Well that story gave me……… paws.
Glad to see Bear Friday (…Bear Tuesday?) made the jump from the Kinjaverse, haha.
So can lions and a whole host of other animals. Maybe try locking your doors when in areas where dangerous animals roam…
Not only can they open doors, they prefer minivans over cars because the minivans tend to have more snacks inside. I don’t know if this is learned behavior or sense of smell but it doesn’t matter. The bears are onto us, Man!
You know what would stop bears opening car doors? Locks.
Depends on the bear’s mood. They’re pretty lazy and might just move on to the next car, but if they’re feeling determined they’re perfectly capable of peeling open a locked car door.
That lead image is a lie. No self-respecting bear would be caught dead near a Dodge Journey.
Note: Humans over-estimate how much smarter we are than animals. The main thing they lack is mass communication of ideas between generations and opposable thumbs to build stuff. In this case, it looks like there is experiential sharing of info to that smaller bear, so they are gaining on us!