'I was freaking out': Bear breaks into Metro Vancouver minivan

A minivan was gnawed, scratched and ripped-apart so badly by a bear, a B.C. mother can't get to the driver's seat to see if it the vehicle will still run.

Somehow the animal got inside the Port Moody family's van, then couldn't get out.

Early Sunday morning, while Leanne Cederberg was staying overnight in Vancouver, she got a call from her son who needed the minivan's fob.

"He said, 'The police are on their way.' I'm like, what?" she told CTV News. "'Yeah, there's a bear in the van.' I'm like, what?"

The bear had set off the alarm, waking up neighbours, and the vehicle remote was needed to silence the honking and let the animal out.

"He was just like matter-of-fact about it. I was freaking out!" Cederberg said.

The bear ripped apart the siding, exposed wires, tore off a sun visor and chewed through just about everything trying to get out.

It also left a stench - the vehicle smells like a garbage dump.

Cederberg called ICBC and the insurer has given her some money to rent another vehicle. They plan to tow away the vehicle in about two weeks.

"They need to do a full assessment to see if they can fix it," she said. "That would be quite impressive."

She figures she must have left the car unlocked, and the bear must have tried the handle.

Her son managed to open the a back sliding door using the fob, and when police arrived and put on their sirens, the bear took off.