COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Bears are common in parts of Colorado Springs, but not all bear stories are the same.
Case in point: When a Robbin's Heating and Air Conditioning employee went out to his truck while working on Iron Duke Court, he was met with quite a surprise.
Dallas Shannon had to skip lunch last week because a 300-pound black bear ate his.
Nestled high in the mountains, residents in the area off Star Ranch Road are used to seeing bears in their backyard.
"Bears come through here quite often. It's a lot of flowers, a lot of berries down in the bushes down there," said Robert Reid, a resident in the area.
But seeing one in a service van? That's a little unusual.
"I got a call that said there was a bear in my van, so I come outside from the customer's house and look and there he was, sitting in the driver's seat like he was about to steal my wheels," said Shannon.
The bear crawled through an open window into the van, and then took a short lunch break.
"He actually had some leftover spaghetti and then I had stopped at (Culver's) and grabbed a burger. It was a bacon deluxe, so he ate that down too," Shannon said.
The bear stayed in the van for a few minutes then crawled back out through the window.
"When he decided he was done eating, he exited through the window and then crawled up on top of the van and walked around for a little while and then, you know, off into the trees he went," said Shannon.
The bear didn't do any damage to the van, but it did leave quite a mess.
"He tore up my lunch box and left some hair and some snot all in it. The van smelled like a trash can after he left," Shannon said.
Unfortunately for Shannon, he lost his lunch. But he gained a great story and learned a valuable lesson.
"We don't keep food out on the deck or around the house so there's really no reason for the bears to get near us," Reid said.
Click here to view our guest segment with the Department of Wildlife and learn tips on how to be bear safe.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM