Kicker: Bear family van

NICK EICHER, HOST: Two sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina responded to a call: Intruders in a rented minivan. Audio from eyewitness news 11.

DEPUTY SHERIFF: All we saw was snout and eyes. It was lookin right at us.

So faced with a snout-and-eyes situation, you don’t just pop open the door. You tie a rope to the door handle, a long rope, you get back, you pull, and you hope for the best.

DEPUTY SHERIFF: It just goes to show you, you never know what you’re going to run into as a deputy sheriff.

Right, because sometimes it’s a 250 pound mama bear. And you shouldn’t assume she’s alone. There were two more snouts and four more eyes: the cubs.

Good news is all the animals got out.

The bad news is the animals got in in the first place, and they left behind some damage to the rented minivan.

I guess the best news is the renters got the insurance. And:

RENTERS: We learned a valuable lesson: just because you’re out in the mountains and you don’t think you need to lock your doors, you need to go ahead and lock your doors to your vehicles.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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