--- title: Bear Breaks Into Bakery and Devours Dozens of Pies description: But the "picky" animal left one kind of pie behind canonical: https://time.com/3963560/bear-bakery-pies/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-18T14:28:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:16.053Z og:title: Bear Breaks Into Bakery and Devours Dozens of Pies og:description: But the "picky" animal left one kind of pie behind og:url: https://time.com/3963560/bear-bakery-pies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4ccce9f0019bcc6/69885b80428a9e7244cce3ac/bear.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: Brown bear og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bear Breaks Into Bakery and Devours Dozens of Pies twitter:description: But the "picky" animal left one kind of pie behind twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4ccce9f0019bcc6/69885b80428a9e7244cce3ac/bear.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bear Breaks Into Bakery and Devours Dozens of Pies > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e3649ea5-5df0-48f6-bcfe-e0c609b45241&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What Is Killing America's Bears? We Are [Watch (HLS stream): What Is Killing America's Bears? We Are](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kilXH2dq.m3u8) (2:43)  _Published 2010-04-13. Three cubs were rescued from Alaska after their mother and brother were accidentally killed by state wildlife officials. It's one incident in a rising number of human-bear encounters_ by [Maria Yagoda/People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Maria Yagoda/People Contributor Jul 18, 2015 2:28 PM UTC by [Maria Yagoda/People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Maria Yagoda/People Contributor Jul 18, 2015 2:28 PM UTC Hunger makes us do crazy things. Case in point: A ravenous bear broke into a Lyons, Colorado, bakery and ate 24 pies, as well as several bags of ingredients. The mischievous bear entered the Colorado Cherry Company by breaking through a window and climbing onto the oven, where he proceeded to eat two dozen pies as well as “bags of cocoa and a bag of sugar,” the owner’s daughter [Mikaela Lehnert told _The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/bear-pies-colorado-bakery). While it sounds as if the bear was indiscriminate in his tastes, he actually had quite the discerning palate. “He went for the apple and the cherry and left behind the strawberry rhubarb, so he was a picky little guy,” Lehnert said. The morning after the pie raid, Lehnert and her mother arrived to find their store in shambles, with two boxes in the yard. And, with 24 pies devoured without a trace, they have reason to believe that the bear enjoyed his dining experience – and may return. “We have a feeling he knows it’s here so he’s going to come back,” Lehnert said. Despite the damage (a broken window and vanished food supplies), the publicity from the strange break-in has been much appreciated. “If anything it’s boosted \[our business\] because it put our pies and product out there.” _This_ [_article_ ](http://www.peoplepets.com/people/pets/article/0,,20938484,00.html)_originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com) ## Transcript -[ unk ] siblings from Alaska, a typical 1 year olds, they're content to run, wrestle, and explore all day. Normally in the wild, there'll be a bear mother nearby will to protect their cubs from many threats. But the mother of these cubs had a lethal encounter with human beings. >> She would periodically enter town looking for food and bring her cubs with her so she was quite comfortable being around humans just as an effort to try and dissuade her from spending time in the proximity of humans. Police officer tried to drive her way and unfortunately we end up killing her. The mother died when her cubs were just weeks old. The four cubs have been seen wandering around looking for food in the small towns in Alaska. Soon after, one of them was accidentally killed with tranquilizer darts by State Wildlife officials. Too young to survive on their own, we have the three orphan bears who rescued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Months later, they were transferred to the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo. These orphaned cubs reflect the growing trend. As expanding suburbs encroach on bear habitat and bear populations increased, more and more bears are running in the complex with human beings and it's not just in Alaska. >> In the east, we tend to have areas where there's a lessening of hunting pressure and populations of bears or coyotes of other animals increasing, and as those populations increased, you just have more encounters between wild life and humans. >> It rarely ends well for the bears. Across the country, the number of bears trapped, wounded, and killed grows every year. Bronx Zoo curator Pat Thomas says most bear encounters have a common thread. >> Most of the times, the bears and people interacted because bears are coming into towns or coming towards people looking for food and so if he develops strategies to take away the opportunity for bears to get that this human- generated food, it would go along way to reducing conflict between two species. >> Bears rely heavily on their sense of smell so states such as New Jersey have come up with policies of using bear- proof garbage containers to control human- bear conflict. These cubs were lucky to have found a home in the Bronx Zoo where they live out the rest of their lives. Other orphan cubs have been euthanized. It's unlikely the bears will ever be released again in the wild. Once in captivity, they lack essential skills to survive. 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