Bear in Car Caper

[Kevin Rooney]

And now for Something Completely Different ...

The following story occured in Mammoth Lakes, CA, a resort community in the Eastern Sierra and home to Mammoth Ski Area. The animal control officer, Steve Searles, is a something of a "bear whisperer" in his knowledge of bear behavior, and is respected by the residents of the area for his gentle and humane treatment of errant bears. And if you're familiar with Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe, there are many, many bears in those areas.

Mammoth Lakes is located north of Bishop, which in turn is located north of Lone Pine, the jumping-off point for Mt. Whitney.

Here's the story in the Sierra Wave.

 

[DougPaul]

Opening a door and using it to enter seems to be the unique feature here.

Bears break into cars pretty regularly in places like Yosemite, particularly if there is food (or something food-related) left in sight or that can be smelled. There are food lockers at some parking lots. (And up to a US$5000 and/or impoundment of your car and/or revocation of your camping permit for violations of food storage regulations.) http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bears.htm (Currently blocked by the government shutdown, but accessible via the Google search cache.)

If need be, they can hook their claws into the sheet metal and rip a car open...

Doug

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Another bear story, from the same town as above - (cute photo)

Bear walks into Vons, eats some apples and leaves