The beast guzzled 24 cherry and 14 apple pies, but left the strawberry-and-rhubarb creations untouched in the raid.
A bear has broken into a Colorado bakery and chomped his way through 38 pies, even taking two for the road.
He devoured 24 cherry and 14 apple pies - but left strawberry-and-rhubarb pies completely untouched in Tuesday night’s raid.
“He took two with him,” Kristi Lehnert, owner of the Colorado Cherry Company, told Sky News.
“He climbed back through the window with two pies and I found the boxes outside.”
With the stealth of a veteran burglar, the culprit found his way into the building at a point not covered by surveillance cameras.
However, there was plenty of evidence: paw prints, bite marks and a trail of sugar.
Neighbours have seen a black bear around the property, but cannot confirm if he is the one responsible for the raid.
The bear broke in by “climbing through the window that’s five feet above the ground” and located above the oven, said Ms Lehnert.
Aside from the broken window and the mess, the damage to the shop in the city of Lyons was minimal.
“The damage could have been a lot worse. I have a whole restaurant upstairs but he stayed in the little corner where the pies were out on the counter cooling,” said Ms Lehnert.
While the cherry and apple pies were already boxed, the strawberry-and-rhubarb pies were cooling uncovered, but the bear clearly had a preference.
“According to the wildlife rangers, bears are used to cherry and apples smells, so he didn’t go for something that smelled unusual like the rhubarb,” said Ms Lehnert.
This is not the first bear incident for Ms Lehnert.
At her other bakery in Loveland, Colorado, a bear broke in on the hunt for some treats and damaged a window, the main doors and freezer doors.
She has installed an electrical fence because of bears’ tendency to comb through the bakery’s rubbish for food.