Vancouver Island bear breaks into car, poops, destroys everything

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Conservation Officers and police on Vancouver Island have been dealing with a spat of vehicle break-ins over the last month and a half. They say they know exactly who is responsible for the spree that has left the vehicles badly damaged, but have yet to apprehend them. Why? Well, because this particular perpetrator is a black bear. 

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Tofino resident Stephanie Hannay was the most recent victim of the B&E bruin. She woke up to the sound of her car’s horn going off around 10:30 p.m. last Saturday night, but returned to bed when she looked outside and saw nothing out of the ordinary. When the noise returned around 2 a.m. and Hannay went to the car to see what was going on, that’s when she spotted the bear poking its head from between the seats. 

“I opened the driver-side door and this head pops out in the back seat and it’s just a bear. I couldn’t believe it,” Hannay told Glacier Media. Back inside the safety of her house, she assessed her options. “I wasn’t actually sure if that was what I had seen but I freaked out and closed the door immediately and I began screaming. Pacing back and forth. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

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Wisely, Hannay called the Conservation Officer Service report line and was told a member of the police would arrive shortly. But the bear had already had plenty of time to wreak havoc inside the car, defecating on the seats and tearing apart bits of the door panels and dash. 

“It’s just gross in there,” says Hannay, who admits the car’s doors were unlocked. “It’s bad. It’s pretty bad. You can tell he tried to get out. He basically ripped the panelling off every single door, including the hatch. Things are just strewn around… it’s a disaster.”

And apparently the bear has been busy, as Conservation Officer Sgt. Stuart Bates says he believes the same animal is responsible for damaging a dozen other vehicles over the last six weeks. 

“We do have a bear that about six weeks ago got into a car and got some food and has since then learned to test every car it comes across,” Bates said, explaining how it simply destroys the outside to get inside. 

“They’re really hard on cars — break open door handles, windows.”

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Officials say they have a trap prepared for the bear, but until this particular woodland criminal is captured, police advise locals to stay aware and use loud noises (like banging pots and pans together) to scare bears away from private property.