Early one morning several weeks ago, Amy Truett walked outside her Potomac home in Missoula County to find that her truck had been burglarized.
The brake lights were on, the ground was littered with glass, and she could smell something terrible from way up the driveway.
However, a cat burglar was not responsible for this break-in — it was a bear.
“We knew it was him because, well, the bear paw prints on the truck and opened the door and tears,” Truett said. “He tore the truck apart."
The bear apparenlty got stuck inside when the door slammed behind him, cracking the windshield and wreaking all-around havoc before breaking a window to get out.
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While the seasons are starting to change and the temperatures are dropping, bears are still very much out and about.
Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks spokeswoman Vivica Crowser told MTN that bears are extra active this time of year.
Encounters like the break-in to Truett’s truck, are a good reminder for people to be bear aware.
"They're really taking in a lot of calories, it's amazing that thousands of calories they try to find all day, every day so that they're ready to be in their dens for the winter,” Crowser said. "And so what that means is that they're out and active in places that we are also out and active. So lower down in the valleys looking for just about anything they can find."
In Potomac, they found Truett's truck. She had just put about $2,000 of work into the vehicle, but the bear chomped right through it.
"I have three jobs and so I cook at the school for the kids, I work up at the bar here in Potomac and then I also work out at Clearwater at the cow. So, I mean, this is my mode of transportation and for me to go see my kids do their sports and, you know, do my daily stuff,” Truett said.
While insurance won't cover the damages, Truett is touched by the kindness of her friends and neighbors who have donated money for repairs.
Community is very important to Truett, who won the state’s WOW Award for her work as the kitchen director at Potomac School School.
She teared up thinking about her best friend, who created a donation campaign to help cover truck parts.
“I try to work hard for my stuff and, and I know everyone else does too,” she said. "Potomac is a good community. They're very caring about their people."
The shredded truck is an unfortunate reminder for all of bear country to stay bear aware this Fall.
"Gosh, for the next six weeks it's really important to be vigilant,” Crowser said.
