This image from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's surveillance video shows a black bear leaving the store on July 25, 2012.
Raiding a candy store in a Colorado mountain town to satisfy a sweet tooth sounds like something Yogi and Boo-Boo would do. But this culprit’s smarter than your average bear. Late last month, a black bear in Estes Park, Colo., went in and out of a candy store multiple times to pilfer goodies including English toffee, caramel-dipped chocolate-chip cookies and milk chocolate “cookie bears”. Surveillance video from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shows the bear opening the front door of the store to grab some treats near the cash registers. The bear took the comestibles without breaking a thing in the store, ate the stolen goodies outside, and then returned to the shop for more. All told, the well-behaved bear made seven trips in roughly 15 minutes. He left for good after a passing car scared him away.
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The bear was so neat that the only evidence he left behind was some wrappers and a smudge or two. Shop owner Jo Adams initially thought the intruder had been a squirrel, according to NPR. Only after Adams checked the surveillance video did she realize that the intruder was a black bear, who was able to open the door because the deadbolt wasn’t secure.
Bears in Colorado’s mountain towns — including Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park — often scavenge for human food near homes, in garbage cans and even in cars, reports the Associated Press. This year’s drought has forced the bears to become more resourceful, and when they do wander into human settlements they face the danger of being put down, explains Adams, who says she’s against killing the animals. “We’re in their turf, and you just put up with these things when they happen,” she said.
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