This Is How We Know Bears Don't Like Diet Soda

Diet soda isn't for everyone, and now we can add bears to that list—or at least this particular one in Canada, who broke into a resident's vehicle and quaffed 69 cans of regular pop before calling it a night. Per the CBC, Sharon Rosel of Earls Cove, in British Columbia, was shaken out of sleep on Thursday by her dog, and when she looked out her bedroom window, she saw why: A black bear had broken one of her SUV's windows and was working its way through Rosel's stash of soda, using its teeth to puncture the tin cans before guzzling the drink down.

Rosel, who owns a food truck, had 72 cans of soda inside the vehicle, and she says she watched from her balcony as the bear worked its way through a staggering 69 cans, including those holding regular cola, root beer, and orange soda. It only turned away the diet soda inside the car. "He was drinking massive amounts," she notes. Rosel says she tried throwing cold water on the thirsty animal, as well as using the powers of persuasion, mentioning how she had to go to work in the morning, as well as how she was a bear hunter—all to no avail.

"I had to stand by and just watch him devour my car," she says. The inside of Rosel's vehicle—which Driving.ca identifies as a Chevy Tracker—was pretty much trashed after the bear's binge-drinking, with the white leather interior ripped in places, one of the window openers broken, and soda everywhere. "White leather interior goes really good with orange Crush," Rosel jokes with the CBC. It's not clear how much of the damage Rosel's insurance will take care of, or what happened to the bear afterward, but it likely has a bellyache, and Rosel suspects its tongue may be slashed up, too, per Jalopnik.

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The Sunshine Coast Bear Alliance notes that bears in that neck of the woods are very smart and have a keen sense of smell, so even the slightest whiff of something yummy—even a candy wrapper—can draw them in. Rosel says she knows that, and that she's always been vigilant about not leaving food in her car, but she didn't think bears had cravings for soda. "I've been around bears since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I have never seen them go after pop," she tells the BBC. (More bears stories.)