'Co-ordinated bearglury': Bears break into Coquitlam family's car and garage, eat crumbs under car seat
When Sean McQuillan and his family woke up to a large mess in their front yard on Thursday morning, they wondered what was going on.
He looked at his phone and saw several messages from his neighbourhood WhatsApp group, and several missed calls from the police.
Eventually, the family would learn that around 3 a.m. that morning, two bears had broken into the car in their driveway and somehow managed to open the garage door.
“My son here was probably playing with the keys and left it unlocked by accident,” McQuillan said.
The family slept through the entire ordeal, even when RCMP vehicles pulled up at their house.
“I’m just shocked that we slept through it with a baby and a toddler and two dogs,” said Heather McQuillan. “It was quite a commotion out here.”
The father of two explained that the bears opened a number of the car doors appearing to look for food.
“They had lifted up the car seat in the middle and ripped it and shredded it to try and get at the little crumbs that he left underneath, that I had no idea were even there,” he said.
There are also a number of rips inside the car, on the driver’s and back seats. But what surprised him is that the bears managed to lift the garage door.
“This was a co=ordinated bearglury,” said McQuillan.
The weather stripping has been ripped off the bottom of the garage door, but the dozens of antique lamps that they rented out for movie productions, were spared. However, the garbage, that’s stored at the back of the garage, had been rifled through.
“They didn’t break anything but they did find the garbage,” he said.
Conservation officers told CTV News it’s likely that whatever attracted the bears to their neighbourhood, probably wasn’t coming from the family’s house since they hadn’t left any food out.
However, they are reminding everyone to secure garbage so bears can’t get into it and to make sure nothing else is left lying around outside that might attract them.
The parents told CTV News they will have to replace their two and a half year old son’s car seat.
This is the second bear interaction the family has had in 10 days. Just over a week ago, Heather told CTV News she came face to face with a mother and her cub.
“We were leaving, I had the kids in tow, car seat in my arm, and I open my door and I came within 2 or 3 feet there is a mom bear and her cub right there,” she said.
“I just closed the door, locked it and took a moment.”
From living in Coquitlam, the family knows that bear sightings are common.
“We respect the fact that we’re kind of in the bears’ … home and we definitely don’t want bears to be terminated or anything like that,” Heather said.
As for the two bears in this case, they were gone by the time police arrived.
“I wouldn’t want anything to happen to the bears obviously we’re in their neighbourhood as much as anything else,” said McQuillan, “I hope they find some other food so they don’t keep coming back.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.