As wildlife abounds, minivan, muffin mix bear the brunt

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Winnie the Pooh has honey, Goldilocks’ three ursine victims had porridge and a casually destructive North Carolina black bear has muffin mix.

Nicole Minkin Lissenden tells The Asheville Citizen-Times she was embarrassed to see a minivan door had come ajar with trash spilling out Sunday, so she closed it. Tipped off by fogged-up windows and paw prints, she would learn 30 minutes later that she had unwittingly trapped a decent-sized black bear inside.

Having clawed up the interiors, the bear eventually slid out a window. Shortly thereafter, Karen Brown found paw prints and open drawers in her nearby kitchen. She says the bear bypassed fresh pumpkin bread and chili to grab the muffin mix.

He left the premises after some human hollering.

Asheville has around 150 bears within city limits.

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Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, http://www.citizen-times.com