The key fob wouldn’t open the hatchbacks, so one deputy lifted it open while the other stood nearby with his shotgun, just in case.
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Video of the bear’s ordeal was posted on social media Tuesday by the Jefferson County sheriff’s office.
Deputies believe the bear may have entered through an unlocked door that closed after he was inside the vehicle. “I don’t see a broken window”, Deputy McLaughlin can be heard saying on the video. “My steering wheel was chewed”, she said. Deputies Tillman and McLaughlin were sent to the home to free the bear, which had somehow locked itself inside a auto. The challenge was that none of the doors easily opened due to the bear’s destruction of the inside of the auto, including ripping off the door panels.
The deputies warned campers at the nearby Chief Hosa Campground about the bear, urging them to be cautious. “[We] hope this young bear stays far away from cars in the future”.
Thankfully once the door was open the bear had no interest in deputies, only in getting back into the wild.
Eventually, officials were safely able to manually open the back hatch of the Subaru and release the bear. One of the deputies popped the handle on the latch and the bear pushed his way out. “My neighbor actually described it as someone put a grenade in there and it just went off”.
Tillman added that he doesn’t want to be that close to a bear again.
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The bear that got stuck in the Subaru appears to be a black bear, the newspaper reported.
