A woman in British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast got an unpleasant surprise when she discovered that a bear had broken into her car and helped itself to dozens of cans of soda. Sharon Rosel woke up to find her car window shattered and a black bear guzzling soda from the cans she had left inside overnight.
According to Rosel, she was alerted to the bear’s presence by her dog around 3 a.m. PT last Thursday. She watched from her balcony in Earls Cove, B.C., as the bear used its teeth to pry open the cans and slurp up the sugary beverages, leaving a sticky mess in her car’s interior.
Rosel estimated that the bear drank a total of 69 cans of soda, starting with orange soda before moving on to cola and root beer, and finally stopping at the diet soda. She tried various methods to deter the bear, including throwing cold water on it and even claiming to be a bear hunter, but nothing worked.
The bear left significant damage in its wake, ripping the car’s leather interior, breaking the window roller handle, and spilling soda everywhere, including inside the gear shifter. Rosel, who owns a food truck, had purchased the soda for her business the previous evening and never expected bears to be attracted to soda.
Living in a remote area, Rosel is familiar with bears and usually takes precautions to avoid attracting them with food smells. However, she acknowledged that she had never seen bears go after soda in all her years of experience living in bear country.
The Sunshine Coast Bear Alliance, a non-profit organization, advises keeping vehicle windows and doors locked to prevent bears from gaining entry and causing damage. Rosel is hopeful that her insurance will cover some of the damages caused by the soda-loving bear’s late-night escapade.