Prince George, B.C. – The Conservation Officer Service is reminding British Columbians who live in bear country not to leave food or garbage in their cars for an extended period of time.

Deputy Chief Chris Doyle issued the warning today during a teleconference after a black bear ripped through a car in search of food in West Vancouver causing about $10,000 in damages Sunday

According to reports the bear could smell a large amount of food left overnight in a sedan.

“Unfortunately it’s not that rare if there is food left in vehicles,” said Doyle. “Bears can be very motivated to get in there and get at it and obviously the more time they have the more damage they may cause.”

He added such attacks, which he noted are not “rare”, most commonly occur in places where there’s a “dense bear population on a fringe of a community.”

“It’s usually one or two bears that learn that behaviour and then will seek out those food sources.”