Colorado bear turns locked SUV into an overnight horn section

A bear trapped inside a closed SUV gave a Colorado neighborhood a very loud overnight mystery, according to UPI.

Residents in Gold Hill had heard a car horn sounding through the night and believed a neighbor was responsible, UPI reported. By Sunday morning, the explanation was sitting in the front seat: a bear inside the vehicle, leaning on the horn.

Patrick Sullivan shared cellphone footage of the scene, according to UPI. The video showed the animal in the front of the SUV while the vehicle remained shut.

The clip, as described by UPI, caught the bear pressing against the horn from inside the vehicle. The noise that had annoyed the neighborhood was coming from the unexpected passenger.

A careful door pop

The rescue was handled from a distance, UPI reported. A man used a long rope to open one of the SUV’s doors, keeping space between himself and the trapped animal.

Once the door opened, the bear climbed out and ran off, according to the video cited by UPI. The footage showed the animal leaving the vehicle after the rope-pull release gave it a way out.

Residents said the bear left behind damage to the side panel of the SUV, UPI reported. They also said the driver’s side airbag had been deployed.

The report did not say how the bear got inside the SUV or how long it had been trapped before neighbors checked on the horn Sunday morning.

A wild wake-up call

The Gold Hill episode landed in UPI’s Odd News coverage on July 22. The account, reported by Ben Hooper, centered on the cellphone video shared by Sullivan and on residents’ description of the overnight honking.

The strange scene came down to a simple discovery: the neighborhood noise complaint was not a cranky driver, according to UPI, but a bear stuck behind closed doors and leaning on the horn until help arrived.

This story draws on original reporting from UPI.