Two bears ransacked this B.C. family's SUV. Dad, mom, kids and dogs slept through it all

As Sean McQuillan lay sleeping next to his wife around 3 a.m., two pugs dozing at the end of the bed, his phone started to buzzwith call after call.A trio of RCMP cruisers soon pulled up in front of the family home in Coquitlam, B.C. Pajama-clad neighbours stood groggy but wide-eyed at their windows, filming the reason for it all.

Two gangly black bears were rummagingthrough the McQuillan's grey Chevy Tahoe, whichwas parked in their driveway.The driver's side and rear passenger doors were flung open as the animals worked under thestreetlight.

McQuillan, his wife, their two young children and both dogs missed the entire thing.

"They sleep blissfully through this entire ordeal, as [did] we," McQuillan said, referring to pugs Winston and Hannah.

Bears likely in search of food

McQuillan detailedthe story onTwitter early Friday.

He and RCMPbelieve thetwo bears got into his unlocked carin search of food particularly, McQuillan suspects, the scrapshistwo-and-a-half-year-old son, Maverick, had chuckedall overthe back seat.

No one was hurt, but the animalsleftbehind dusty paw prints,amangled carseatand the lingeringodour of bearwhichMcQuillan described as being"like much thicker wet-dog smell."

Neighbours who heard the commotiontried repeatedly to reach the family by phone and through a neighbourhood WhatsApp group. One witness saw the garage door was also wideopen and called police.

WATCH |Surveillance footage captured the bears wandering the cul-de-sac:

Bear rummages through family's SUV in Coquitlam

3 years ago

Duration 0:38

Surveillance cameras and incredulous neighbours captured a small black bear breaking into a SUV in Coquitlam, B.C., early Thursday morning.

By the time RCMParrived, the bears had gone. Officers knocked on the front door and joined the list of people tryingto phone the family. Still, the entire householdslept through the night.

"We wake up in the morning to find all of these messagessaying, 'What happened? What's going on?'We're like, 'Uh, I don't know what's going on,' " McQuillansaid.

One neighbour started sending footagefrom their security camera to fill in the blanks.

"There's three or four police officers [in the video] driving up the cul-de-sac and they're all in front of our house," McQuillan said.

"Eventually you see this weird figure on the back of our vehicle and the figure gets on all four paws. And that's where we realized it was just a very skinny juvenile bear."

Bear break-ins rare, but not impossible

McQuillan saw the damage for himself when he went down to the garage.

"Our car is all torn apart on the inside ...there's garbage from inside the garage pulled and strewn everywhere," he said.

"They absolutely used the handle," he said, referring to how the bears got into the SUV. "You can see a paw print on the corner of the driver's side door."

Unable to reach the family, RCMP officerssecured the garage and vehicle catching an unluckywhiff of the"distinct wild animal bouquet"before leaving the scene.

Bears have gotten into cars in B.C. before, including as recently as last year,but RCMP said it's rare to see two of the animals doing so at once.

"This is a very uncommon call," said RCMP officer Const. John Graham.

Officers reiterated the importance of locking up vehicles to protect them from thieveshuman or otherwise.

"The Coquitlam RCMP would like to encourage bears, and people, to not enter, or drive for that matter, any vehicle without the permission of the registered owner," Graham said.

As for the family, McQuillan said he has some explaining to do withhis insurer, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.

"Now to see if ICBC covers bear," he tweeted.