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As seen through the periscope of the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Honolulu (SSN 718), a young Polar bear investigates the open water around the submarine’s rudder, while surfaced 280 miles from the North Pole, October, 2003.
Black bear breaks into vehicle, guzzles 69 cans of pop
Sharon Rosel watched from balcony in Earls Cove, B.C. as bear devoured can after can, but stopped at diet soda
Michelle Gomez · CBC News · Posted: Apr 17, 2023 7:26 PM CDT | Last Updated: April 18
Earls Cove resident Sharon Rosel says the bear ripped up her leather seats, drank and spilled her soda everywhere and broke her window roller handle. (Sharon Rosel)
A woman on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast awoke to a sticky situation last Thursday when she found a bear with a sweet tooth had broken into her car and crushed dozens of cans of soda she had left there overnight.
Sharon Rosel said she was awakened by her dog around 3 a.m. PT Thursday and looked outside to see a black bear surrounded by shattered glass from her car window.
"He was drinking massive amounts of soda," said Rosel.
Rosel said she watched from her balcony in Earls Cove, B.C., for an hour and a half as the bear used its teeth to break open the cans and slurp their contents while making a sweet mess of her car's interior.
She said the bear started with orange soda before making its way through cola and root beer and only stopped when it reached the diet soda.
A bear in Earls Cove, B.C., was caught drinking dozens of cans of pop after breaking into a resident's vehicle. Rosel said she had 72 cans of soda in total in the car, and the bear drank 69.
She said she tried throwing cold water on the bear from her balcony but to no avail. She then tried reasoning with him, explaining she needed her car to get to work the next morning.
"Then I tried psyching him out by telling him I was a bear hunter. That didn't do anything either, so I had to stand by and just watch him devour my car," said Rosel.
Rosel took photos of the bear break-in and its aftermath the next morning.
Crushed cans of soda litter the ground after a black bear ravaged Sharon Rosel's car. (Sharon Rosel)
She says the bear ripped the car's leather interior, broke the window roller handle from standing on it, and spilled soda everywhere, including inside the gear shifter.
"Of course, white leather interior goes really good with orange Crush," Rosel said sarcastically, noting that the bear also knocked over a pack of paper towels but didn't consider using them to clean up the mess.
She's hoping her insurance will cover some of the damage.
The bear shattered the car window, ripped up the leather seats and spilled soda everywhere. (Sharon Rosel)
Bear awareRosel, who owns a food truck, says she had purchased the soda for her business the previous evening.
Because she lives in a remote area, she says she deals with bears on a daily basis and is normally hyper-vigilant and careful to not leave food in her vehicle.
But she never expected the bear would be attracted to soda.
"I've been around bears since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I have never seen them go after pop," said Rosel.
The non-profit Sunshine Coast Bear Alliance notes bears are highly skilled at gaining entry to cars and can cause significant damage.
"[Bears] can be attracted to the slightest aroma in your car, such as a candy wrapper or scented air freshener. Please keep your vehicle windows closed and locked and doors locked to avoid damage and a surprise encounter," its website says.
CBC News contacted RCMP for more information, but they directed us to B.C.'s Conservation Officer Service, which was unable to provide details in time for publication.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks via AP, File We're pretty proud of our bears here in the Great Land. We're the only state that boasts three species of bear, those being the black bear (Ursus americanus), the grizzly/brown bear (Ursus arctos), and the polar bear (Ursus maritimus). In fact, Kodiak Island, to the south of mainland Alaska, brags some of the biggest bears in the world, those being a subspecies of the grizzly/brown, known as the Kodiak bear, Ursus arctos middendorffi. These bad boys can be up to ten feet tall when standing upright, and the biggest ones known weighed upward of a ton.
Two Kodiak bear cubs native to southern Alaska were found wandering on a rural Florida roadway, and the incident was captured on an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy’s body camera.
A local resident alerted authorities to the sighting on Dec. 5 and said it was a sight he had never seen before.
Their size and color were two indications that they weren’t dealing with a species native to Florida, but there remained many questions as to where the duo came from.
The pair appeared healthy and even tried to climb into a responding patrol car.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigation confirmed the resident’s initial theory – the bears weren’t from Florida; they were actually Kodiak cubs from southern Alaska.
The bears were evidently escapees from some kind of unregistered exotic animal facility. At least they appeared to be sober.
These bears are notably unsuited for life in Florida, especially in suburban environments, where it may not be safe for them to wander about bearfoot. The fact that the bears tried to climb into a patrol car would indicate that they are accustomed to people and have been in captivity for some time, as they seemed willing to go as fur as possible in the vehicle. The cubs' beartender was not available for comment. It's also possible that these cubs may have been the vanguard of some planned incursion of car-sized bruins into the Sunshine State, making them, in effect, cub scouts.
The bears will, it seems, be transported back to the Great Land.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game told the sheriff’s office that there are only about 3,500 Kodiak bears in existence and are subspecies of the more well-known brown and grizzly bears.
It remains unclear how someone was able to get the bears to Florida or when they’ll be transported back to The Last Frontier.
This event paints a vivid pawtrait as to why people shouldn't take wild animals from their proper environment. While these bears are evidently being returned to their proper home, they will probably have to remain in captivity. Learning to live in the wild is challenging for apex predators; A lot of the young of not only bears but animals like mountain lions and wolves don't survive their first year. Fortunately, there are places like the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center that can care for the beasts.
All kidding aside, this is why people should leave wildlife alone. These bears were, somehow, taken far from their natural habitat to a place they are ill-suited for, and while information is sketchy, they were likely in the hands of someone who didn't know how to properly care for and handle an apex predator that will grow to weigh a ton and stand ten feet tall. Fortunately, these cubs have been found and will be returned to where they belong.
Ward Clark hails from Alaska’s Susitna Valley, where he maintains his rural household in one of America’s last free places. Ward is a twelve-year veteran of the U.S. Army including service in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Joint Endeavor, and today is a staunch minarchist libertarian, along with being an author, novelist, self-employed small businessman, woods bum, and semi-professional bad influence. You can see some of Ward's fiction writing here.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks via AP, File