North Carolina

Bear Makes Dramatic Exit From Minivan — Then Pilfers Muffin Mix

The bear bypassed fresh pumpkin bread and chili

Winnie the Pooh has honey, Goldilocks' three ursine victims had porridge and a casually destructive North Carolina black bear has muffin mix. 

Nicole Minkin Lissenden told The Asheville Citizen-Times she was embarrassed to see a minivan door had come ajar with trash spilling out Sunday, so she closed it.

Tipped off by fogged-up windows and paw prints, she would learn 30 minutes later that she had unwittingly trapped a decent-sized black bear inside. 

Lissenden's husband Alex and a neighbor, Buster Brown, then tried to open the car's door to free the bear but it wouldn't stay open. 

Having clawed up the interiors, the bear eventually smashed a window and slid away, in a dramatic moment that was captured on video.

The bear walked off but it wouldn't be done causing trouble.

Brown's wife Karen, meanwhile, came outside from the house next door to investigate the commotion.  

Shortly thereafter, Karen Brown returned home and found paw prints and open drawers in her kitchen.

She says the bear bypassed fresh pumpkin bread and chili but found a more enticing treat.

"He went through three drawers and then pulled out some muffin mix," she told the Asheville Citizen-Times. "Then he went into the garage to eat it." 

The bear left the premises after some human hollering. 

Asheville has around 150 bears within city limits.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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