Rin Merrick, who lives on Airport Road in Warren, has lived in bear country long enough to know the rules: don't leave food outside, secure the trash and lock the car. But last month, exhausted from work, she forgot that last step.
The next morning, Merrick walked outside to her Toyota RAV4 before heading to work at Mad River Donuts in Waitsfield. She found her vehicle rocking back and forth.
"I was like, 'There's no way. There's no way there's a bear in my car right now,'" Merrick recalled.
There was.
A black bear had become trapped inside the unlocked SUV, fogging the windows as it tried to escape. Merrick ran inside to wake her partner, then returned to open the rear hatch and a passenger door from a safe distance.
A TOTAL LOSS
"I was just screaming at it, 'Come on, dude. Get out of the car,'" she said. "He finally took off from the car."
The bear ran off, but not before leaving behind thousands of dollars in damage. Merrick said the animal ripped apart the dashboard, door panels and overhead console, damaging electrical wiring throughout the vehicle. The destruction was so extensive that her insurance company declared the SUV a total loss.
Ironically, Merrick said there was no food or drink inside the vehicle.
"There was nothing in my car," she said. "There was no food, there were no drinks, there was nothing except my jacket from doing the donut shift."
WARN OTHERS
A game warden later examined the scene and told Merrick it appeared a second bear may have inadvertently closed the vehicle's door after the first bear climbed inside, trapping the animal until it tore apart the interior trying to escape.
Since then, Merrick said the same bears have continued roaming her neighborhood near Airport Road and East Warren Road, attempting to get into other unlocked vehicles. After chasing one away from a neighbor's car, she decided to warn others.
"I don't want what happened to me to happen to others," Merrick said. "This bear is trying to break into people's cars, and he will do it. He'll get in there."
Her message is simple, and one wildlife officials have repeated throughout Vermont as bears actively search for food during the summer months.
"Lock your cars," Merrick said. "We don't leave our trash or compost out. We don't leave bird feeders out. But they're still coming around looking for food."
Now relying on rides from friends and her partner while shopping for a replacement vehicle, Merrick hopes her expensive lesson will spare someone else the same experience.
"I usually lock my doors every single time," she said.
