Black bear breaks into house then exits ‘like the Kool-Aid man’

By Chris Robertson, news reporter

A black bear broke into a house in Colorado at the weekend searching for food, then left by crashing through a wall “like the Kool-Aid man”, police said.

Estes Park Police said the bear entered the home on Fall River Road in the town, which is in the Rocky Mountain National Park, after being attracted to the “scent of refuse”.

They added: “Upon officers’ arrival, said bear forcibly breached a hole in the wall like the ‘Kool-Aid Man’ and made its escape.”

The Kool-Aid man is a glass-jug-shaped mascot for the US drink of the same name, who smashes through walls and ceilings, saying “Oh yeah!” as he enters.

Pictures show a hole in the wall of the home where it appears the bear made its escape.

The break-in prompted the local parks and wildlife service to remind locals about staying safe, as well as looking after the bears.

It said: “For your safety, and the lives of these bears, please close and lock all windows and doors to your house and vehicles. Make it a routine to check everything is closed up before you go to bed or leave the house to do errands.

“Some of these vehicles were clean of any attractants (not even a crumb), and multiple cars in the same area. This shows that some individual bears are so habituated to receiving food from vehicles that some are going car to car seeing if they are unlocked, even if they don’t see or smell food.

“Please do your part to keep bears wild.

“Bears are extremely smart, which means we all have to be too. Sometimes it’s literally as easy as a push of a button or flick of a lock.

“Please report any human-bear conflicts to [the service].

“These reports help us wildlife officers do proactive patrols and identifying high conflict areas where officers can provide directed education to residents and visitors and help prevent bears from becoming habituated to human-derived food sources.”

Back in May, a car on the same street was broken into by a bear, where it stayed for seven hours, destroying everything inside.

A study in 2016 estimated that between 17,000 and 20,000 bears live in Colorado.