Bear downs 69 cans of soda after breaking into woman’s car

EARLS COVE, British Columbia (CBC News) - A Canadian woman says she caught a bear breaking into her car to guzzle dozens of cans of soda in the middle of the night.

Sharon Rosel says her dog alerted her about 3 a.m. Thursday that something was outside her house. When she took a look, she saw a black bear surrounded by shattered glass from her car window, according to CBC News.

Rosel, who owns a food truck, had 72 cans of soda of different varieties in her car. She says the bear was just going to town on the soda, using its teeth to break open the cans and slurp out the sweet liquid.

“You could hear him slurping it the whole time, and he didn’t break them open with his claws, as you would think he would. He used his teeth every time,” Rosel said.

She says she watched from her balcony for an hour and a half as the bear drank the soda, starting with orange soda then moving to cola then root beer. It only stopped when it reached the diet soda.

“I could see him coming in and out of the truck with different pop. He started with orange Crush, and eventually, the last thing he got was the diet pop,” Rosel said.

In all, the bear drank 69 cans of soda.

Rosel told CBC News she tried throwing cold water on the bear, but it didn’t stop. Also ineffective was what she called an attempt to reason with the animal.

“I tried reasoning with him. I explained to him how important the car was and that I had to go to work the next morning. That didn’t seem to affect him whatsoever,” Rosel said.

In addition to breaking her car window, Rosel says the bear ripped the leather interior, broke the window crank by standing on it and spilled soda everywhere. She told CBC News that she hopes insurance will cover some of the damage.

“Later on, I looked at my security cameras and saw him… smash the window really quickly. I’d left the door open, if he’d had tried it. He could have gone in that way,” Rosel joked.

Rosel lives in a remote area and deals with bears daily, CBC News reports. She says she is normally careful not to leave food in her car but never thought a bear would be attracted to soda.