I can’t make this up people. This is my new favorite Boulder story, not because of the story (which is pretty great) but because of all the comments the article received. Here’s the story as it’s reported in The Daily Camera… the comments follow.

“What do you do if you find a bear trapped in your vehicle? Open the door.

At least that was the advice Colorado Parks and Wildlife gave a Sugarloaf Mountain resident when confronted with that situation early Friday.

In an interview with 7News, Taylus, who refused to give his last name, said he heard his car horn honking at 3 a.m. Friday but ignored the disturbance until 4:30 a.m., when he went outside to investigate. When he looked inside his Honda Element, he was shocked to see a bear apparently trapped inside the vehicle.

“We see them here all the time,” he told the station. “But this is the first time they’ve gotten in the car.”

Taylus called Parks and Wildlife, he said, and the officer on duty told him that, if he felt up to it, he should open the door and let the bear exit the vehicle on its own. So he did — jumping into his nearby Toyota truck after opening the door — and the bear ran off into the woods, the TV station reported.

The bear was less than kind to the Honda, tearing the seats to shreds, destroying the instrument panel and pooping on the floor, but the man said he’s not mad at the animal.

“The car’s totaled,” he told 7News. “Hopefully the bear just gets left alone to continue to roam around and harass people.”

He said he did not have any food in the car but did have a used garbage bag inside.”

And now a word from the locals:

“So how does a bear end up trapped in a car in the first place?”- bherenow

“The bear just wasn’t in its element.” – Ur_8Wyrb

“looks better than my brother’s car” – Chris_Pincher

“Good thing Taylus didn’t give his last name, as there are so many Taylus’ that live near Boulder, in Sugarloaf.  Who lives in a remote area, hears his car horn honking at 3 am, and ignores it for 90 minutes. How could that possibly be normal?” – JohnFromBeyond

“He said he did not have any food in the car but did have a used garbage bag inside.” A used garbage bag? Really? The bear may have helped the situation… ” – onceanative

“Well, now we’ve located the only person on the planet who lays in bed for 1.5 hours while someone (or something) is downstairs in their car honking the horn. I’ll have what he’s smoking.” – johnvincent112

“Don’t lock your car doors at night people! Leave the keys in the ignition! Then there will be far more entertaining stories here with the typical high-school newspaper grammar and spelling we all expect from a rag like DC!” – johnvincent112