ENCOUNTERS OF THE URSINE KIND - Cottagers almost blasé as black bears become ever more resourceful in their quest for food

Trish Crawford, Living Reporter

When it comes to bear tales, it's hard to top Mike Chonko.

A bear ate his truck.

After breaking into the truck's cab in the summer of 2004, a bear cub fought, clawed, chewed and busted his way out the back window, leaving more than $10,000 worth of damage in his wake.

"It was a Chevy bear trap," laments Chonko, who was alerted to the intruder by the honking of the Silverado's horn. "You have no idea the power of a small bear."

All of the cottagers on Kennisis Lake know this tale – it is told around fires late at night – and it is stories about bears, not ghosts, that keep the little ones awake at night and give cottagers bragging rights.

Bears in cars, bears in the garbage, bears on the deck, bears strolling by the hot tub, bears up trees and down on the dock.

And they're not made-up tales.

Ursus Americanus, the North American black bear, is as ubiquitous in cottage country as blue- berries and canoes. Although bears usually dine on nuts, berries and plant shoots in the wild, their phenomenal sense of smell has drawn them into the trash bags and picnic baskets of humans for the easy pickings. And, because of their poor eyesight, they can sometimes get perilously close to people before they know it – causing shock for both sides.

Gino Ariano thinks his wife might have picked up something tasty from Tim Hortons on the way to the cottage, four years ago, because a bear tried to get into her red Mercedes as it was parked overnight beside their Haliburton cottage.

The bear had actually got the car door open – it has a handle that pulls out – when someone in the cottage heard rustling in the dead of night and went out for a look.

"We all panicked," Ariano says. "We managed to scare him away. Now, we lock the cars at night."

There was no food in the car, just the smell, he says, but it was enough to entice a hungry bear.

At Ontario.ca/bearwise, the Ministry of Natural Resources Bear Wise website, you'll find tips such as making noise so they can avoid you, freezing meat and food scraps, keeping your barbecue burning after you've finished cooking to eradicate food smells, and using round door handles and doors that pull out, not push in. A prime one: Don't leave your garbage out.

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