Video: Bear breaks into van, attempts to steal food

The video of a bear, breaking into a van in the Whistler area of British Columbia, Canada, while attempting to steal food is going viral on the internet.

In the video, the black bear is caught sneaking into a van, much to the amusement of the van owners, who were recording the bears' antics from a distance. The black bear simply walks to the car, unbolts the door with his paw and jumps in.

"He was in there for 12 minutes, just sitting there in the driver's seat. At one point he went in the back looking for food, " Matt Patterson, the person who recorded the video told the Mirror.

Although Matt and his friends were relatively lucky, managing to loose just a bottle of water instead of an arm or an eye, the incident provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon one of life's most important questions—what to do if you encounter a bear in the wild.

Breaking down the aforementioned question in his book, "A walk in the woods," world-renowned author, Bill Bryson collates a mini survival guide after reading experts such as Canadian academic named Stephen Herrero, the author of " Bear Attacks: Their Cause and Avoidance."

Here is an extract from his musings on bear attacks:

"So let us imagine that a bear does go for us out in the wilds. What are we to do? Interestingly, the advised stratagems are exactly opposite for grizzly and black bear. With a grizzly, you should make for a tall tree, since grizzlies aren’t much for climbing. If a tree is not available, then you should back off slowly, avoiding direct eye contact. All the books tell you that if the grizzly comes for you, on no account should you run. This is the sort of advice you get from someone who is sitting at a keyboard when he gives it. Take it from me, if you are in an open space with no weapons and a grizzly comes for you, run. You may as well.

If nothing else, it will give you something to do with the last seven seconds of your life. However, when the grizzly overtakes you, as it most assuredly will, you should fall to the ground and play dead. A grizzly may chew on a limp form for a minute or two but generally will lose interest and shuffle off.

With black bears, however, playing dead is futile, since they will continue chewing on you until you are considerably past caring. It is also foolish to climb a tree because black bears are adroit climbers and, as Herrero dryly notes, you will simply end up fighting the bear in a tree.

To ward off an aggressive black bear, Herrero suggests making a lot of noise, banging pots and pans together, throwing sticks and rocks, and “running at the bear.” (Yeah, right. You first, Professor.) On the other hand, he then adds judiciously, these tactics could “merely provoke the bear.” Well, thanks. Elsewhere he suggests that hikers should consider making noises from time to time—singing a song, say—to alert bears of their presence, since a startled bear is more likely to be an angry bear, but then a few pages later he cautions that “there may be danger in making noise,” since that can attract a hungry bear that might otherwise overlook you.

The fact is, no one can tell you what to do. Bears are unpredictable, and what works in one circumstance may not work in another."

Bryson says bear attack survival stratergy is unique with no standard approach so if you happen to be a fortunate or unfortunate bear attack survivor, bear with us some more and please comment below and share your story.