VICTORIA -- A Vancouver Island woman says bears are becoming more aggressive in her neighbourhood – and she's got the video to prove it.
Christine Fred shared surveillance video of a black bear in her driveway opening the door of her truck on Friday night.
"I was sitting in the living room with my dog [and] I heard a noise," she told CTV News.
"I looked out the door window and seen a bear butt sticking out of our open truck door."
Fred said the bears – and this one in particular – are no strangers to the Tseshaht First Nation, near Port Alberni. However, she says the bears seem to have become more aggressive over the past three years.
This particular bear is believed to have got into several other cars in the neighbourhood on the same night.
"Bear's a problem all over town," she said.
Fred said there was no food in her truck at the time. But that didn’t stop the bear from opening two other doors on the truck and rummaging around inside.
"He took out a box and laid on the ground and ripped it up," she said. "There was no damage to the truck. Just muddy paw prints."
Conservation officer Dan Eichstadter told CTV News that bear activity is very high in the Port Alberni region this year, with several vehicle break-ins.
"It happens sometimes when potentially someone had groceries in the vehicle or a potential food source," he said.
"Especially this time of year with bears trying to put on as much weight as possible before hibernation for the winter."
