Boulder, Colo. -- A bear got stuck in a Boulder man's car Friday morning, and when the owner called for help, he was told to just let it out.
Taylus (who refused to give his last name) told 7NEWS he heard his car honking around 3 a.m. right outside his home on Sugarloaf Mountain west of Boulder.

By 4:30 it was getting ridiculous, so he went outside to investigate, peering into one of the passenger windows of his green Honda Element to find himself face to face with a bear, stuck inside his vehicle.

“And I thought it was a raccoon or something,” Taylus said, adding this was not his first bear encounter. “We see ‘em here all the time. But this is the first time they’ve gotten in the car.”

The result is what you’d expect, poop on the floor, chairs and headliners ripped open, even the instrument panel was mangled.

“The car’s totaled. It’s destroyed. The whole inside’s gutted,” Taylus said.
He called Colorado Parks and Wildlife and an officer told Taylus that if he felt comfortable, he should just open the door and let the bear out.
Taylus did just that by using his other Toyota pickup truck to jump into after he’d opened the door for the bruin.
“Hopefully the bear just gets left alone to continue to roam around and harass people. Hehe,” Taylus told 7News.

The bear ran away.

A CPAW spokeswoman told 7News they’re seeing an average number of bear encounters this year but emphasized their powerful sense of smell, even through closed vehicle windows.

“It has been dry, there’ve been a lot of fires. And so, those things will certainly move animals and they’ll search for food much harder than they do in good years when they have their natural forage out there,” Jennifer Churchill said. “At this point we’re not planning on trapping this bear. We do believe this is, you know, something that happens from time to time.”
Taylus said he did not have any food in the car but he did have a used garbage bag in the car.