A bear in northern Colorado made out like a bandit Monday night after breaking into a pie shop and devouring dozens of treats.
The owners of the Colorado Cherry Company in Pinewood Springs discovered the next morning that the animal had gobbled down 24 cherry pies and 14 apple pies, 9News reported.
The hungry intruder knew what it liked. The bear avoided frozen pies, and it steered clear of strawberry-rhubarb pies, according to Denver's FOX31.
"Maybe he wasn’t feeling like a tart pie, I guess," Mikaela Lehnert, whose mother owns the shop, told FOX31.
A neighbor snapped a photo of a bear that was seen in the area around the same time, and the Lehnert family believes it may be the culprit. But the pie snatcher wasn't caught on the shop's surveillance camera and remains at large.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife offers tips for living near bears and how to keep both humans and animals safe. "Every time we’re forced to destroy a bear, it’s not just the bear that loses," the department explains on its site. "We all lose a little piece of the wildness that makes Colorado so special. So please, get the information you need, and share it with your friends, neighbors, and community."