Around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, a mother bear broke the windows of a car at a campsite on Boreas Pass Road near Breckenridge, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. No people were present at the campsite during the incident, and no one was harmed. 

The bear and her two cubs “sniffed around” the campsite, including a campfire, tent and the car, which had its rear windows left slightly open. The bear then shook the vehicle — breaking its windows — and entered it, retrieving two backpacks from the vehicle in the process. The incident was first reported by other individuals camping nearby who had been driving up the road during the incident.

While this is the first report of a bear at Boreas Pass this year, Rachael Gonzales, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer, says that bear sightings are relatively commonplace in the area. 

“Breckenridge and Blue River are known to have ongoing bear issues due to their proximity to forest and wilderness areas, combined with the large number of people and housing developments,” Gonzales said.

Outside of Boreas Pass, parks and wildlife has observed several other human-bear conflicts this spring, she said. Many of these incidents involved unlocked vehicles and food attractants. 

Last May, a Ring doorbell captured a bear using the handle of an unlocked car door to get inside, prompting the agency to remind the public about bear safety practices, like keeping doors locked at night. While bears can still break the windows of locked cars, it is less common. 

“Bears can certainly break windows, doors and other barriers when attempting to access attractants like food or trash,” Gonzales said. “In this instance, the window was already cracked, allowing the bear to insert its paws into the opening and use leverage to break it further.”

Gonzales explained that following bear safety practices does not just prevent individual run-ins, but also helps prevent human-bear interactions as a whole. In this specific incident, Gonzales said the campers to whom the vehicle belongs “understood the importance of being bear-wise and had not left any food outside, other than what was secured in their vehicle.”

“(Bears) will move around in search of food, which may lead them into campgrounds, neighborhoods or the downtown area. If they don’t find any food, they will move on to continue their search, hopefully leaving the populated area and back into the wilderness area,” she said. “Once bears learn that actions like tipping over trash cans or opening unlocked doors could result in gaining access to “food,” they are likely to repeat those behaviors.”