GATLINBURG, Tenn. — A Tri-State family vacationing in Gatlinburg had a close encounter with a bear this weekend, and they captured the run-in on a nearby Ring camera.
The Paschka family, who are originally from Cincinnati's west side and now live in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, told us they've learned a valuable lesson about how to keep bears out of their car.
"(I) went inside, came back out maybe an hour, hour and a half later, and the door was open to our SUV," said Kevin Paschka.
Hear more about the Paschka family's close encounter in the video below:
At first, he said he thought someone in his family forgot to close the door to the car as they were unloading their suitcases and groceries into their cabin.
But Paschka remembered to close all the doors, and so did his family members.
That's when they noticed something unusual in their car.
"They were clearly like dirty, dusty paw prints on the door," Paschka said.
They may have closed the doors, but they didn't lock them. Then they discovered dirt on the seats and the armrest of their SUV.
"We've had run-ins with bears but never where they opened the door to a car and got in it," said Paschka.
The cabin, through Heaven's Cabins, had a Ring camera, and after they reviewed the footage, their thoughts were confirmed. The footage shows a bear getting into the Paschka's SUV and rummaging through it.
Watch part of the raw Ring camera footage that captured the bear below:
"The second bold item in (the cabin's) welcome packet is to make sure you lock car doors," Paschka said.
When we looked at Heaven's Cabins FAQ, we found that it says bears are present in the vicinity — and they can open car doors.
"Luckily, like I said, we had just gotten back from the grocery store and we had taken everything out of there because if we had not, I'm afraid he would've trashed the whole inside of the car," Paschka said. "That's the most beneficial thing, is make sure you lock up, because again, I had no clue they could open car doors."
