A Juneau, Alaska, family is stuck with a totaled Subaru after a black bear locked itself inside the vehicle and tore the interior apart.
Michael Wilson, the car’s owner, told KTUU that the bear had already broken into two other vehicles that same night before getting trapped in his. He described the sequence as “the Goldilocks situation, except he got locked in the last car.”
The incident began just after midnight on Monday when the large bear entered the unlocked Subaru in Juneau. A neighbor heard the car horn blaring and spotted the animal inside, then called police. Officers arrived and woke Wilson to get his keys, but the bear had already ripped out enough wiring that the doors would not unlock.
“He was fighting pretty good to get out of the other door,” Wilson told the local station.
Police resorted to using a rope to pry open a door and free the trapped animal. Witness Angela Harkins described the tense moment of release.
“He actually puts his paw on the window at one point before the officer opens the door,” Harkins said.
After roughly five to 10 minutes, officers succeeded in opening the door and the bear ran off unharmed. The Subaru did not fare as well.
“The metal’s bent, all that plastic’s torn off, the chairs are torn off, the back seats are torn apart,” Wilson said.
The financial damage is entirely on Wilson. His family carried only liability insurance, not comprehensive coverage, leaving them to absorb the loss.
“So I got to hand it to Subaru. They made a good car,” Wilson quipped. “[The bear] couldn’t get out.”
Wilson noted that bear activity in Juneau has been especially severe this season. More than 200 inches of snow fell during winter, and a late spring left scarce berries and fish, pushing hungry bears closer to human neighborhoods and vehicles.
He had direct advice for other residents based on his expensive lesson.
“Lock your doors,” Wilson pleaded. “Don’t leave any food, no candy.”
“No, don’t put any candy in the car and lock your doors.”
The bear’s Monday night rampage through three vehicles marks an extreme case of the wildlife encounters Alaskans face when natural food sources run low. Wilson’s destroyed car now sits as a warning to others in a community where residents must weigh the risk of bear intrusion against daily convenience.
Wilson’s family is scheduled to appear on a local Juneau morning radio program to discuss the incident and broader bear safety awareness.