Hungry black bears are running into trouble in the Rocky Mountains

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Patrick Sullivan was sure it was a "crazy neighbor" honking a car horn nonstop while Sullivan was up feeding his infant son at 3 a.m.

Key points

• Millions of individuals live in or near bear habitat throughout the Rockies, where widespread drought has reduced supplies of nuts, berries and plants that bears eat.
• Sullivan's brother-in-law eventually freed the bear trapped in the Toyota.
• It's unfit to drive, Sullivan remarked of the car.
• It was a neighbor all right, but not a human one.

It was a neighbor all right, but not a human one. A black bear had opened the door of a Toyota SUV and was trapped inside the vehicle in Gold Hill, Colorado, northwest of Denver.

In one of hundreds of examples of bears getting into more trouble than usual in the parched Rocky Mountains this summer, the animal kept bumping the horn as it ripped apart the Toyota's interior, desperately trying to escape. "It's totaled. It's unfit to drive, " Sullivan remarked of the car.

Millions of individuals live in or near bear habitat throughout the Rockies, where widespread drought has reduced supplies of nuts, berries and plants that bears eat. That's prompting the animals to roam far and wide for food.

Sullivan's brother-in-law eventually freed the bear trapped in the Toyota. But such encounters can be deadly for bears. One lately stuck in a car in Colorado Springs died from the heat, and wildlife office-holders have killed dozens of others that could endanger individuals.

For now, hungry black bears are running into trouble in the Rocky Mountains remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.