Bear with sweet tooth steals Christmas treats

Bear raids island baker's fridge, devours desserts A hungry bear broke into a Vancouver Island baker's fridge and devoured kilograms of peanut brittle, Nanaimo bars and chocolate truffles.

Victoria — A Campbell River woman will have to start her holiday baking all over again after a bear helped itself to her freezer.

After hearing noises early Friday morning, Sharla Marr discovered a bear had opened her outdoor freezer and eaten several kilograms of her homemade Christmas treats.

Marr is a Red Seal baker, meaning the bear picked one of the best houses on the block to raid.

"It ate one kilogram of peanut brittle, a 16 x 11 pan of mint Nanaimo bars, a batch of chocolate truffles, and then random meat and bread products," Marr told CTV News.

The freezer, kept in her carport, also had packages of frozen fish, and blackberries, which the bear passed up in favour of the sweets.

"I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you get sick,” Marr said, addressing the bear. “They were for family and friends, and I sell some.”

After finishing the sweets, the bear left a present of its own before leaving.

"That was the cherry on top of everything – the fact that it had not only eaten everything but also had pooped on my doorstep," Marr said. "It was quite rude."

The family is now looking into putting a lock on their freezer to prevent the same thing from happening again.

"I honestly didn’t know bears could even get into freezers," the baker said.

Conservation officers want to remind people that bears can open outdoor fridges and freezers, which should be kept locked.