‘Clever’ bear uses cooler as a stool to steal snacks from car

Call them Smokey, the bandit.

A sneaky bear proved it was no ordinary thief after ingeniously using a cooler as a step stool so it could snatch food from a parked car.

Footage of Baloo’s ingenious car-jacking hack is currently blowing up on Facebook as viewers marvel at its pilfering prowess.

“In case you were looking for a sign to lock your car doors — this is it,” the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Service wrote alongside a clip of the incident, which occurred earlier this month in Colorado.

The 1-minute clip, captioned “bears are gonna bear,” starts off typically enough with a black bear sniffing around a parked truck.

All of a sudden, Winnie rears up on his hind legs and then yanks open the door a la the velociraptors from “Jurassic Park.”

The brainy bruin then rips a red cooler out of the ride, before amazingly using it as a makeshift step stool so it can clamber more easily into the vehicle.

Smokey’s resourcefulness appears to pay dividends as the bear emerges seconds later with a picnic bag full of food.

The clip ends with the critter bounding off into the woods with its ill-gotten snack pack clutched in its jaws.

Facebook users were quick to praise the bear for its ingenuity. “They know how to open anything,” marveled one commenter. “Even doors in houses. Sneaky big guys.”

Another wrote, “I like how he checked to make sure there were no humans in the truck first and then used the cooler as a stepping stool to get in to find the food….that is a clever bear.”

“Apparently, bears like carry out food too,” quipped a third.

Meanwhile, some critics wondered why the cameraperson opted to film rather than stop the brazen bear-glary.

Interestingly, Colorado Parks and Wildlife sided with the videographer, observing that they were “inside of a building at the time,” and that “humans should always give wildlife their space.”

“It is best to call CPW or State Patrol personnel if something like this is occurring, but do not approach wildlife yourself,” wrote the org, who’s received 173 reports of bear activity in 25 Colorado counties this year alone.

In light of the theft, the CPW advised people to lock their doors if they have food inside their vehicles.

Apparently, not even sealed goods are safe from the black bears’ incredible sense of smell, which is reportedly seven times greater than a bloodhound’s.

Last month, a Canadian black bear guzzled down 69 cans of soda that it pilfered from a woman’s vehicle.

The CPW summed it up like this: “Bears are gonna bear — people are the solution — change your habits and be bear aware.”

The aforementioned truck pillaging isn’t the first time bears have been caught acting remarkably like people.

In September, a mama bear in Asheville, North Carolina, was filmed adorably teaching her cub how to use the slide at the playground.

A month prior, a black bear was filmed calmly strolling down the aisles of a California grocery store.

That same month, another four-legged scene stealer was caught on cam swiping someone’s Amazon delivery.

Meanwhile, bears have become bona fide social media stars after a string of viral incidents of late: One “foolish” woman got jail time for playing around with a massive mama grizzly at Yellowstone National Park in October, and four-time “Fat Bear Week” winner Otis made headlines when he reclaimed his title earlier that month.