--- description: Annie Bruecker knew she wasn't going to work on Tuesday when she woke up to find that a bear had trapped itself inside her Subaru title: A Bear Somehow Locked Itself Inside a Subaru Near a Colorado Campground image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95fd14da6266b366/69889be28e06010f20466b01/black-bear-car.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Bear Somehow Locked Itself Inside a Subaru Near a Colorado Campground  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2016 9:24 PM CUT  American black bear (Ursus americanus) looking for salmon at creek at Neets Bay fish hatchery, Behm Canal in Southeast Alaska near Ketchikan, USA. American black bear (Ursus americanus) looking for salmon at creek at Neets Bay fish hatchery, Behm Canal in Southeast Alaska near Ketchikan, USA.Wolfgang Kaehler—LightRocket/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2016 9:24 PM CUT Annie Bruecker knew she wasn’t going to work on Tuesday when she woke up to find that a bear had trapped itself inside her Subaru. “He’s tossing stuff in the back basically and then you can see the ceilings of my car just ripped and I was like, I’m not going to work today,” Bruecker, 17, said in an [interview with Fox 31 Denver](http://kdvr.com/2016/07/12/deputies-free-bear-that-locked-itself-inside-a-car/ "undefined"), speculating that the animal had “just opened the door and then let himself in.” The car was parked near a campground in Genessee, Colo. Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies freed the bear Tuesday morning, one opening the trunk door while another stood by with a precautionary shotgun, the [Denver _Post_ reported](http://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/12/black-bear-trapped-in-colorado-subaru-video/ "undefined"). “Stay away from me, bear,” one of the deputies can be heard saying in [the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time%5Fcontinue=53&v=s6cKJIXBKns "undefined"), while approaching the vehicle. “How’d you get in there, bear?” The car was unlocked at the time, but all the windows were closed. After the bear scrambled away, the video pans to heavy destruction inside the car. “The whole ceiling was ripped. The plastic sunroof cover was ripped out. My steering wheel was chewed,” Bruecker said, [according to Fox 31](http://kdvr.com/2016/07/12/deputies-free-bear-that-locked-itself-inside-a-car/ "undefined"). “My neighbor actually described it as someone put a grenade in there and it just went off.” Deputy Josh Tillman said he was startled but pleased with the outcome of their rescue, though he noted the bear left significant damage behind. “Imagine about as much destructing as you can imagine in a car,” he told Fox 31\. “He ripped door panels off. He tore the steering wheel off,” > [](https://twitter.com/jeffcosheriffco/status/752929732556054528) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4405280/colorado-bear-trapped-in-subaru/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4405280/colorado-bear-trapped-in-subaru/"},"headline":"A Bear Somehow Locked Itself Inside a Subaru Near a Colorado Campground","datePublished":"2016-07-13T21:24:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:14:24.419Z","description":"\"How'd you get in there, bear?\"","url":"https://time.com/4405280/colorado-bear-trapped-in-subaru/","keywords":["animals","Colorado"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95fd14da6266b366/69889be28e06010f20466b01/black-bear-car.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95fd14da6266b366/69889be28e06010f20466b01/black-bear-car.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American black bear (Ursus americanus) looking for salmon at","caption":"American black bear (Ursus americanus) looking for salmon at","creditText":"Wolfgang Kaehler—LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4405280/colorado-bear-trapped-in-subaru/","name":"A Bear Somehow Locked Itself Inside a Subaru Near a Colorado Campground"}}]}] ```