{"id":93872,"date":"2019-05-21T16:05:31","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T22:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bear-with-pizza-craving-breaks-into-car-near-vallecito\/"},"modified":"2019-05-21T16:05:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T22:05:31","slug":"bear-with-pizza-craving-breaks-into-car-near-vallecito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bear-with-pizza-craving-breaks-into-car-near-vallecito\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear with pizza craving breaks into car near Vallecito"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A bear broke into a vehicle Tuesday near Vallecito seeking a pizza fix.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A bear that broke into a car early Tuesday near Vallecito Reservoir had a craving for pizza, but the bruin lumbered away with an empty stomach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t any food in the car,\u201d said Abigail Armistead. \u201cIt was an empty box.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armistead said she got home from work at The Rusty Shovel Saloon around 12:45 a.m. to find the door of her husband\u2019s car open. It was snowing, she said, and she was confused why the door of the car would be open.<\/p>\n

Armistead went inside to talk to her husband, who said he didn\u2019t leave the car door open. The couple went back outside to inspect and found big, round paw prints on the door of the car and bear tracks in the snow walking away from their home.<\/p>\n

The pieces of the puzzle started to come together, she said, when they found a pizza box her husband had left in the car ripped up. It appeared the bear tried all the doors of the car to access the pizza inside, Armistead said. The bear eventually figured out how to open one of the doors, she said.<\/p>\n

In similar situations<\/a>, a bear that breaks into a vehicle has the capability of causing so much damage that the car can be totaled<\/a>. But despite the intrusion, Armistead said the bear did not damage the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s remarkable there was no damage,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re extremely fortunate that didn\u2019t happen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Lewandowski, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said even an empty pizza box can attract the keen sense of smell of a bear. He said it\u2019s important people lock their car doors and don\u2019t keep any food inside a vehicle.<\/p>\n

Lewandowski said it is also important that residents report bears that get into trouble, before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a bear is causing minor issues, we really want people to call us, because if we can respond early, our wildlife officers have more options,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if people wait until a bear starts causing serious damage, like breaking into a house, we have no choice other than to euthanize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bears generally wake from hibernation around mid-April, and wildlife officials recommend a number of actions to avoid human-bear conflicts, such as taking down bird feeders, securing trash and sheltering livestock.<\/p>\n

Not leaving food in cars is one Armistead and her husband won\u2019t forget anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cLesson learned, for sure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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