That’s on the street in the tourist town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Way up in the Smokies in East Tennessee. The Bears have been coming into town for a long time. They don’t usually cause any trouble. They’re just hungry. It’s not a good idea to piss them off unless you can move through town like Usain Bolt.
As someone that lives in Africa, I've fielded questions from Americans about lions walking around in our streets (and ofc they don't).
I've always wondered why tf would they think we have wild, deadly animals walking around in our streets... and now I see why.
These aren't even the deadly ones. The mountain lions are quiet and don't mess with you if they're not starving, but it's pretty sobering to be smoking a cig alone outside of a bar at 1am and have one of those things walk down the other side of the street.
There are a pair of young cougars (not older women, you only make that mistake once) around where I live for the past 6 months or so.
I've seen one of them three times since getting a new headlamp for walking in the evenings. The distinctive eyeshine, ears and slick loping movement.
The most recent was a couple nights ago when the dog and I took advantage of a break in the downpour to take a walk. It was hanging out in some brush in the corner of a field that ran alongside the road near the community mailboxes.
Second time I've seen a cougar in that spot though it was much closer this time.
I kept the bear spray ready, headlamp on maximum and walked backwards for a bit. As on every occasion the dog was completely ignorant of why I was a suddenly acting strange.
Be it rabbit or cougar she is absolutely oblivious to the wildlife.
The day prior to my latest encounter (spotting?) a cougar approached someone walking their dog in a nearby cemetery allegedly getting within 6 inches of the dog before they managed to scare it off.
They say if you see a cougar that's either a young one that doesn't know how to hunt or an old one that can't hunt - either way, you or the dog seem like viable food. I saw one once out in the woods in Washington state, scared the shit out of me as it was incredibly camouflaged. I was looking at the forest enjoying the day off of a trail on private property and then it just sort of came into focus. I left very quickly.
I’m in the PNW. We get cougars here, but worse: we get moose. Cougar sighting, the cops tell you to keep your pets inside, moose sighting, they tell you to keep yourself inside.
Yeah. These black bears that roam the town are just like big domestic cats. Don't annoy them or you may get scratched. Ever tried to pet a cat that did NOT want to be touched? You get that same basic reaction. The threat snarl, maybe a paw swipe, but it's meant as a warning.
But seriously, one angry bear swipe can lay open your belly even if it doesn't then pounce on you and crunch every bone in your every limb and then pop four fang-shaped holes into your skull, so don't eff around with 'em.
Yeah it's right there in front of the Gatlinburg Inn where my parents and my wife's parents and nearly all the 80+ year old parents in Tennessee went on their honeymoon.
Most people haven't heard/seen a bear roar point-blank in their face. The fact that he stayed within range after that is the most impressive thing to me. It's amazing he can wear normal pants.
It happened back in May. My brother in law left a ladder laying across a high bank behind my parents house and their roof. A bad storm was hitting so I assume the bear was looking for a place to get out of the weather. It tore a hole into my parents roof/attic and fell through the ceiling. My mom was sitting right beside of it. My dad had a pistol but yelled at it to get out of there. It ran in the kitchen and pretty much went crazy trying to get out. It ended up on top of the stove. My parents have a sliding glass door but couldn’t open it because the bear was going after them when they entered the kitchen. They called the police and wildlife people. While they were waiting on a guy with a tranquilizer to arrive, my uncle managed to open the door and the bear finally left. They had no insurance but my brother in law helped them out and fixed the ceiling/roof.
but look at him. I love him. I did have a bear family walk by me when I was camping once. I was definitely hoping the cubs didnt get curious and wander over lol.
I do a lot of work with construction in the newer areas of Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver, Canada. Foothills of the big mountains, so it's just new sprawling suburbia on the side of a mountain with forest and trails immediately next to it.
Job sites and the new neighbourhoods there are covered in black bears. And yea the vibe they give off is like, big Roly Poly cartoon characters. Like giant raccoons, minus any speed, agility, or intelligence. They mostly wanna scatter and roll down into a creek bed after a hefty meal of your neighbour's food scraps. Honk a car horn, and they jog away in such a way that, were this a cartoon, they'd be all 'oh goodness me, terribly sorry, I'll be on my way!"
But you still don't wanna go anywhere the fuck near them, because if you really scare em, you gotta remember, they're gonna win everytime. And best to always be cautious, because you never know, one of em might be a mama, and her cubs are just on the other side of her. Or worse still, on the other side of you.
They'll almost always keep to themselves, and I've come not to really worry about them, but they still ain't to be fucked with.
I can't believe new developments don't include a plan to relocate or mitigate impacts to resident predators. They need wildlife corridors to connect with conservation lands that can adequately support them. It's dangerous for everyone involved to have this level of interaction in an urban setting.
It is dangerous but the animals have nowhere to go. There needs to be regulations on development at this point. Real estate has hit its crony capitalist stage & “development” no longer equals progress or necessarily affordability. A large portion of development these days is quick cash grabs for the developers.
I had one come around the corner of my ground level suite while I was sitting outside drinking alone one night. It was going to be between me and my door so I stood up and ran at it and its look of "what the fuck dude!?" Transcended human/animal language barriers.
Unfortunately tourists in Gatlinburg don’t heed warnings. After living there for years people just want to get pictures of them and sadly just leave food out for them on purpose. It’s truly sad.
As a scout I was told that bears will always return to any place they gain easy access to food, and that it's our responsibility not to leave food/ scraps/ trash behind because bears that develop a habit of invading campgrounds will inevitably be put down.
So the sad ending to this story is that this bear probably isn't alive anymore.
Black bears are known to be much less aggressive, even evasive towards humans; but this one was strolling through the street, while surrounded by people, like it was just a normal Tuesday night. Not much fear in this one, people in that area need to keep alert.
The way I was not terribly worried about black bears that I don’t have to directly encounter…somehow I failed to realize they still sound like bears. Lol that sound was terrifying!!
Black bears are still very much bears, that are way stronger than their size suggests. But most black bears would rather leave than fight. In the very rare event of a black bear actually attacking, fighting back is almost always enough to make the bear decide you aren't worth the effort. Generally, you can just yell at them like they're naughty dogs and get fairly successful results. I've only ever encountered one wild bear in the wild (I worked at a wildlife rehab, so I've seen several wild bears in temporary captivity), and acting like a mad mom made it run away with haste. I barely got to finish my "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING OUTSIDE OF THE FOREST?!" before the bear took off.
Unless it's a mama with cubs around. This happened to me as a kid, we wanted to approach the cute cubs. Luckily our dad was smart enough to get us out of that situation as fast as possible.
This is just generally good policy for any mammal infants. Even mammals that are normally extremely timid will get violent to protect their young. Deer have been known to kick people that happened to get to close to their fawn’s (and before you laugh, know that deer have sharp hooves and can cause some real damage). Capybara are known to bite hard to defend their young. The list goes on.
How much y’all wanna bet this is the same bear that was in the video that made the rounds about two weeks ago of a woman just hand feeding it? Some of y’all don’t understand it ain’t cute, it just makes bears get progressively angry at people who don’t have food for them
And this can be applied to most wild animals unless you're prepared to consistently feed it/them long-term, a la bird feeders.
Don't feed squirrels, raccoons, bears, etc. In the case of dangerous animals, it'll get them put down. In the case of many others, it'll make them reliant on a food source that will vanish once tourism season is over.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, it can also make them reliant on a food source that is very unhealthy for them. The amount of people who feed ducks bread is wild. They love it, because bread is delicious, but it makes them malnourished and impacts the development of young ducks’ wings.
The Japanese city of Nara is famous for its deer. Unfortunately the deer are there in such numbers that there isn't enough natural food for them, and the rice crackers they're fed by tourists aren't enough to keep them nourished properly. Individual deer can become aggressive if they're not fed promptly. When tourism was restricted by COVID things got even worse, because they lost the calories they were getting from tourists feeding them.
This is Gatlinburg, TN. Developmentally, it's a strange place, with a very busy downtown area in the middle of basically the woods. Every time I've gone, I've seen bears. It's sort of a thing there. Your general point is spot on, wild animals are wild for a reason and we shouldn't be promoting the feeding of bears.
Now the dude having the balls to touch the bear, and then turn his back to that bluff charge, that's something else.
Lol, yes. To be fair, the strip in Gatlinburg is usually pretty crowded with people. It is a tourist trap area. Black bears do wander around, but they aren't fond of people and generally won't go in a store. This one is coming out at night when the area is becoming less crowded. He will be raiding the trash cans in front of the stores and dumpsters behind the stores. As you can see, he has got plenty of winter fat built up. Most people with sense give them a wide berth when they stroll down the sidewalk sniffing all the good smelling food in the air.
If he becomes too much of a nuisance or danger to the public, they will ship him off deeper into the mountains. Rest assured that the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency has their eye on him. Its a live and let live situation in Gatlinburg until they decide he has got to go. Seeing black bears casually walking down the sidewalk is part of the experience in Gatlinburg. Lol
It would be unusual NOT to see a bear in that area. They just come into the town because it’s their habitat/home. Add in all the food smells and trash and the bears are definitely going to come calling.
I found that bluff charge extremely interesting. I thought the bear just last-second decided not to go forward with it, but you're suggesting it was deliberately a bluff.
Bears, especially black bears, have a bluff charge as part of their self defense. Recognizing a bluff charge is pretty important to dealing with black bears, which are common in my neck of the woods. That said, while a black bear can fuck you up, they rarely do, so you can kinda assume that most of their charges are bluff charges. Dude in the video is gambling on it, and came out ahead. You don't always.
Unfortunately a lot of people seem to think that getting a wild animal to approach you for food = befriending/“taming” it, when in reality it just means they’re progressively losing their fear of humans.
They’re still wild animals, and they a) usually become pushy unpredictable assholes (just because they’ll take your food, and they let you touch them that one time without freaking out, doesn’t mean you can now pet it any time sans risk) and b) are at a heightened risk of being injured or killed. Wild animals that aren’t afraid of people will travel deeper into populated/urban areas for food, and they’re much more likely to be hit by cars, trains, etc., or encounter people who, well, suck.
This whole process further takes them out of their natural environment, creating and reinforcing a cycle of dependence on humans, but without any intentional animal husbandry/breeding to result in domesticated species in the end; all it does is put humans and wild animals alike in harm’s way.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting some seeds/suet/corn out for the birds, squirrels, deer, etc., but we really need to minimize our direct interference with wildlife when we don’t understand (or do, honestly) the implications of doing so.
Black bears are generally pretty docile (as evidenced by it not actually attacking the guy that touched it), and are also kind of scaredy cats. You can usually scare a black bear away just by making loud noises and making yourself look big. I once saw a black momma bear charging at some tourists who got too close to her cub, and a park ranger got in between and stopped her dead in her tracks by yelling and throwing branches on the ground.
So yeah, if you see a black bear and you just mind your own business, it‘s typically not a threat. And even if it does become a threat, you can usually just scare it off.
YES, a brown bear would have mauled tf out of the dude. And a polar bear would already be eating the dude before any of this went down.
You’re taught to get loud and big to scare a black bear off. Play dead and pray the bear loses interest if it’s a brown bear. And just prepare for death if it’s a hungry polar bear (prey is few and far in between for them so they’re the most interested in actually eating you).
As a kid, I was taught, « if it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s white, goodnight. »
There have been no bears in the UK for 3,000 years but as a kid, I imagined it was just a matter of time before they came back and that’s why they needed to teach that to us.
My fam rented a cabin in Gatlinburg which sat at the top of a sloped mountain. This bear showed up and startled us while we sat on the porch. He made his way down the mountain and it was quite entertaining hearing the individual screams coming from each porch dwelling family as he descended. It felt cartoonish, but completely in line with the Gatlinburg experience.
Went out to a cabin for a weekend outside of Gatlinburg and had a whole family of black bears come onto the porch. We didnt have any food outside or anything, but they're probably used to people doing that. Beautiful creatures, though.
We were in Gatlinburg this summer and rented a cabin in Wears Valley, up on top of one of the mountains, and had a family of bears visit just about every day.
I heard a thump on my porch a few months ago at night. I open the blinds and there's a black bear sitting on my porch railing, eating apples off of my tree. Had the most "huh?" look on his face I had ever seen. I shouted at him because I live near people who want to sanitize nature, but as someone who is terrified of bears, it was a really lovely moment.
I once walked out the back door of my family cabin to go micturate amongst the trees, by the time I was halfway from the door to the trail, I noticed a juvenile cinnamon coloured black bear sitting like a dog on the trailhead just munching on berries or something in the short grass. I yelled HI BEAR to hopefully run him off, but within three seconds my brother came high tailing around the cabin with an air horn blaring and scared it off. Poor guy looked so confused that we would interrupt his snack. He gave me the sad head tilt and everything.
Best not to let him be too comfy around our home away from home though.
Yeah. My cousins have a hunting cabin in West Virginia. Before it was all sealed in I guess there was an incident with several bears playing Goldilocks in the downstairs.
I guess they ate whatever food they were trying to get and my aunt sat at the top of the stairs with the shotgun in case one of them decided to come up. She was saying they started moseying off one by one a little bit after midnight.
Iirc this is Gatlinburg, TN. A tourist destination in the Smoky Mtns. Bears get very habituated; raid dumpsters, get bold enough to enter homes, etc. Usually ends very poorly for the bear(s). (Nice vocabulary btw ;))
I wouldn’t say peaceful. They scare easier than other bears so you can often scare them off. But if they’re cornered or hungry they’ll definitely attack and can kill you
Can confirm! They roam the streets of the town I live in during the summer at night and the only thing that’s on their mind is opening trash bins to have a snack. They are usually pretty skittish when humans are around.
Tip for everyone: If ever in this situation yell "WATCH OUT! STAY BACK! THERE'S A BEAR!" and if anyone starts crowding aggressively yell "STAY BACK!" Others will join you in shaming people and warning people.
Its crazy to me that you even have to tell people to stay back from potentially dangerous wildlife. I saw this video in Yellowstone of people just casually walking up to Bison. It ended exactly how you think it would. The bison charged them, I think fortunately nobody got hurt but damn, some people really go to these places and dont understand thats a wild animal that will kill you or your children. Also just cause its a herbivores doesn't mean it won't fuck you up if it feels threatened. Even elk will attack you. Its okay to want to see wildlife in person you've never seen before just observe from a distance.
you ever watch those sci fi movies and cringe at how unrealistic it is when someone tries to get all close and cool with an extraterrestrial creature only to get mauled, forcibly fertilized, and/or eaten by said creature. over time, i've realized maybe not so unrealistic anymore
As someone from Knoxville, black bears are generally docile
Don't approach or interact with them unless you WANT them to get angry. Just walk around
And if they try to approach you, don't run. Stick your arms out and yell at it, it will likely run away. They aren't Grizzlies. They're oversized raccoons
It’s gatlinburg, a tourist trap in the smokies, if you freak out every time you hear a girl scream in excitement and a growl you’re probably not making it out without a heart attack. It gets packed like a can of sardines there plus there’s all sorts of animatronics advertising for the hundreds of Ripleys attractions, if I remember correctly there’s even an animatronic T. rex that growls at you not far from this exact location the video is taken
Lol the guy who touched the bear though, you have a good argument he has no survival instincts. It’s very nice of OP to say he was doing this to “protect” those kids but to me it looks like he’s already fucking with the bear way before he could see the family.
I was sitting here thinking "man, I went on vacation years back and remember running into black bears like this on like 3 separate occasions that week, where the fuck was that?"
Then I read your comment and realized, yep, was Gatlinburg. Lots of fuckin bears there apparently. My stepmom stepped outside of our cabin and was pretty much face to face with one. She screamed and they both jumped 10 feet in the air and hauled ass in opposite directions, lmao
Also rule of thumb for bears - if you see one, hold your arm out completely straight and put your thumb up. If your thumb can't completely cover the bear in your line of sight, you're too close. (this is information that they pass around in the Smokies because tourists can't help themselves when they see the black bears/cubs)
If it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s white, goodnight.
As far as I’ve heard from people who know stuff about bears, this is a bit inaccurate.
First of all the “if it’s brown lay down”, pertains to if a brown bear actually attacks you, i.e. is currently in the process of mauling you to death. If they approach you, you should calmly speak with them and try to move away without rush. They will sometimes start to charge you and it’s usually just to intimidate you and see your reaction. Here it is still advisable to stand your ground, even take a step forward and speak firmly at the bear, to show it that you mean business. There’s a lot of videos of expert tourist guides, wildlife photographers etc. doing exactly that. Only when the bear actually starts to attack you in the sense of physical contact should you lay down on your stomach and cover your neck and head and hope for the best. At least that’s my understanding.
Also depending on where you are, there are local populations of black bears with a brown coat or brown bears with a black or even a white coat so without knowing the telltale signs (mostly head shape afaik) or the endemic population of where you are it is not so trivial to identify the different species and it is not always a matter of coat coloring.
When I had to take a bear awareness course a decade ago they emphasized that you should respond to behaviour rather than what type of bear you think it is. Going up to a bear that doesn't seem to be aggressive/predatory like in this video has a chance of it becoming defensive.
You're supposed to face black bears because it's in their nature to only pursue you if you run. If you stand up to these bears you have a much better chance of survival because they back down.
I mean a lot of the time with animals like this, it's not that their environments are destroyed (though they are to some extent), but rather that their is a higher abundance of food available in areas with a lot of people/
That’s on the street in the tourist town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Way up in the Smokies in East Tennessee. The Bears have been coming into town for a long time. They don’t usually cause any trouble. They’re just hungry. It’s not a good idea to piss them off unless you can move through town like Usain Bolt.
As someone that lives in Africa, I've fielded questions from Americans about lions walking around in our streets (and ofc they don't).
I've always wondered why tf would they think we have wild, deadly animals walking around in our streets... and now I see why.
These aren't even the deadly ones. The mountain lions are quiet and don't mess with you if they're not starving, but it's pretty sobering to be smoking a cig alone outside of a bar at 1am and have one of those things walk down the other side of the street.
Especially since they're ambush predators so it likely saw you long before you saw it
There are a pair of young cougars (not older women, you only make that mistake once) around where I live for the past 6 months or so.
I've seen one of them three times since getting a new headlamp for walking in the evenings. The distinctive eyeshine, ears and slick loping movement.
The most recent was a couple nights ago when the dog and I took advantage of a break in the downpour to take a walk. It was hanging out in some brush in the corner of a field that ran alongside the road near the community mailboxes.
Second time I've seen a cougar in that spot though it was much closer this time.
I kept the bear spray ready, headlamp on maximum and walked backwards for a bit. As on every occasion the dog was completely ignorant of why I was a suddenly acting strange.
Be it rabbit or cougar she is absolutely oblivious to the wildlife.
The day prior to my latest encounter (spotting?) a cougar approached someone walking their dog in a nearby cemetery allegedly getting within 6 inches of the dog before they managed to scare it off.
Only seen a black bear twice this year though.
Dog's just happy to go on a walk.
They say if you see a cougar that's either a young one that doesn't know how to hunt or an old one that can't hunt - either way, you or the dog seem like viable food. I saw one once out in the woods in Washington state, scared the shit out of me as it was incredibly camouflaged. I was looking at the forest enjoying the day off of a trail on private property and then it just sort of came into focus. I left very quickly.
I’m in the PNW. We get cougars here, but worse: we get moose. Cougar sighting, the cops tell you to keep your pets inside, moose sighting, they tell you to keep yourself inside.
“DUDE you must have lions running around in your little African village right?”
The assumption: Wow, what an ignorant American
Meanwhile, the average street view in an American town: 🚗🚙🚓🚌🚗🧸🚙🚙
Yeah. These black bears that roam the town are just like big domestic cats. Don't annoy them or you may get scratched. Ever tried to pet a cat that did NOT want to be touched? You get that same basic reaction. The threat snarl, maybe a paw swipe, but it's meant as a warning.
But seriously, one angry bear swipe can lay open your belly even if it doesn't then pounce on you and crunch every bone in your every limb and then pop four fang-shaped holes into your skull, so don't eff around with 'em.
Well, Usain bolt can only outrun a relatively slow bear, if the bear were actually trying to catch him.
Bolt doesn't need to outrun the bear to survive.
He just needs to outrun the person next to him.
I dunno, bears can do a pretty good job of staying on the heels of whoever specifically pissed them off
Thank you. I knew it looked familiar but couldn’t place it.
Yeah it's right there in front of the Gatlinburg Inn where my parents and my wife's parents and nearly all the 80+ year old parents in Tennessee went on their honeymoon.
“Don’t put your hands on me sir I’m coming home from work”
by sir do you mean “man who has absolute massive balls”?
Balls went directly into his stomach upon approaching the beast but he’s the man for looking out.
Most people haven't heard/seen a bear roar point-blank in their face. The fact that he stayed within range after that is the most impressive thing to me. It's amazing he can wear normal pants.
I've had some close encounters with bears, but not this close. Definitely gets your blood flowing.
Black bears are usually big scaredy cats that don't wanna fight. I wouldn't go giving them a reason though.
https://preview.redd.it/a4e00p6kcv6g1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0cd2074d92ab659856a948be2f2aad51a12d96ae
A bear fell through my parents ceiling this past Spring. It took 2 hours to get it out of the house. This happened in Kentucky.
Dang. Bro is chilling waiting for moms to make breakfast
The porridge better be just right!
Haha I see what you did there and I for one salute you
“MA! WHERES THE MEATLOAF?!?”
I never know what she’s doing back there.
He fell through the ceiling? He must be a bearatrooper.
Bear-borne division
That’s an insane story to have
This should be a post, we need more details.
It happened back in May. My brother in law left a ladder laying across a high bank behind my parents house and their roof. A bad storm was hitting so I assume the bear was looking for a place to get out of the weather. It tore a hole into my parents roof/attic and fell through the ceiling. My mom was sitting right beside of it. My dad had a pistol but yelled at it to get out of there. It ran in the kitchen and pretty much went crazy trying to get out. It ended up on top of the stove. My parents have a sliding glass door but couldn’t open it because the bear was going after them when they entered the kitchen. They called the police and wildlife people. While they were waiting on a guy with a tranquilizer to arrive, my uncle managed to open the door and the bear finally left. They had no insurance but my brother in law helped them out and fixed the ceiling/roof.
https://people.com/bear-plummets-through-kentucky-ceiling-ends-up-on-stove-11742663
Jesus! I would have had a heart attack if a bear came through my ceiling!
I would be thinking “well what do you know, today is the day I turned full on psychotic”
He’s relaxing too lol
If you just fell through a roof into a strange place you'd probably just take a moment to collect yourself, too
True, but it's also like...a 300lb dog with cat claws as long as pocket knives.
but look at him. I love him. I did have a bear family walk by me when I was camping once. I was definitely hoping the cubs didnt get curious and wander over lol.
I do a lot of work with construction in the newer areas of Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver, Canada. Foothills of the big mountains, so it's just new sprawling suburbia on the side of a mountain with forest and trails immediately next to it.
Job sites and the new neighbourhoods there are covered in black bears. And yea the vibe they give off is like, big Roly Poly cartoon characters. Like giant raccoons, minus any speed, agility, or intelligence. They mostly wanna scatter and roll down into a creek bed after a hefty meal of your neighbour's food scraps. Honk a car horn, and they jog away in such a way that, were this a cartoon, they'd be all 'oh goodness me, terribly sorry, I'll be on my way!"
But you still don't wanna go anywhere the fuck near them, because if you really scare em, you gotta remember, they're gonna win everytime. And best to always be cautious, because you never know, one of em might be a mama, and her cubs are just on the other side of her. Or worse still, on the other side of you.
They'll almost always keep to themselves, and I've come not to really worry about them, but they still ain't to be fucked with.
I mean whomever moves there better recognize that they’ve encroached on the bears land.
I can't believe new developments don't include a plan to relocate or mitigate impacts to resident predators. They need wildlife corridors to connect with conservation lands that can adequately support them. It's dangerous for everyone involved to have this level of interaction in an urban setting.
It is dangerous but the animals have nowhere to go. There needs to be regulations on development at this point. Real estate has hit its crony capitalist stage & “development” no longer equals progress or necessarily affordability. A large portion of development these days is quick cash grabs for the developers.
I had one come around the corner of my ground level suite while I was sitting outside drinking alone one night. It was going to be between me and my door so I stood up and ran at it and its look of "what the fuck dude!?" Transcended human/animal language barriers.
I've run into them a lot on trails, and generally they run off pretty fast. But yeah, wouldn't want to give one a chance to fight.
Tags on both ears mean its had some previous run-ins. I hope it ends up relocated somewhere it decides is better than trash picking.
Unfortunately tourists in Gatlinburg don’t heed warnings. After living there for years people just want to get pictures of them and sadly just leave food out for them on purpose. It’s truly sad.
As a scout I was told that bears will always return to any place they gain easy access to food, and that it's our responsibility not to leave food/ scraps/ trash behind because bears that develop a habit of invading campgrounds will inevitably be put down.
So the sad ending to this story is that this bear probably isn't alive anymore.
Black bears are known to be much less aggressive, even evasive towards humans; but this one was strolling through the street, while surrounded by people, like it was just a normal Tuesday night. Not much fear in this one, people in that area need to keep alert.
He just juked a fucking bear and the bear was so embarrassed he went home. Like, ffs
His asshole was too clenched for his legs to move.
That shit is just PRIMAL. Wow.
Sir = Scrotus Indominus Representus
Exceptional use of this GIF
He has a wife, you know
do you find it.... WISable
Should we thwow him to the fwoow?
Gentlemen! THIS is democracy MANIFEST!
What is my crime? Trying to eat a child? A succulent Chinese child?
His just going to get hungry in an hour
Dang I got a good chuckle out of that lol
dont blame the bear. it was the dinner special and it comes with an eggroll. HELL OF A DEAL
That’s my purse! I don’t know you!!
And you Sir, are you waiting to receive my limp penis?
I see you know your judo well
https://i.redd.it/o4ox75tffu6g1.gif
*Gitcho fuckin hands off me
That mouth wiggle haha.
Jamie is imitating Denzel here; I'm wondering when Denzel did that
In every movie
Lol, true. It's part of how he 'emotes'.
I think today is the perfect day for an Unstoppable rewatch. Chris Pine and Denzel were so good together in that movie.
That interview is hilarious too. Foxx and Denzel just vibe.
I love that little look back at the end of the video like the bear was just thinking "Jesus, what was that guy's problem?"
The way I was not terribly worried about black bears that I don’t have to directly encounter…somehow I failed to realize they still sound like bears. Lol that sound was terrifying!!
Black bears are still very much bears, that are way stronger than their size suggests. But most black bears would rather leave than fight. In the very rare event of a black bear actually attacking, fighting back is almost always enough to make the bear decide you aren't worth the effort. Generally, you can just yell at them like they're naughty dogs and get fairly successful results. I've only ever encountered one wild bear in the wild (I worked at a wildlife rehab, so I've seen several wild bears in temporary captivity), and acting like a mad mom made it run away with haste. I barely got to finish my "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING OUTSIDE OF THE FOREST?!" before the bear took off.
I grew up in the mountains, I remember several times as a kid watching my mother chase black bears away from her bird feeders with a broom lol
Unless it's a mama with cubs around. This happened to me as a kid, we wanted to approach the cute cubs. Luckily our dad was smart enough to get us out of that situation as fast as possible.
This is just generally good policy for any mammal infants. Even mammals that are normally extremely timid will get violent to protect their young. Deer have been known to kick people that happened to get to close to their fawn’s (and before you laugh, know that deer have sharp hooves and can cause some real damage). Capybara are known to bite hard to defend their young. The list goes on.
A black bear will fight to save her cubs if she has to.
A grizzly will run off with her cubs a little ways and then circle back to kill your ass just for the crime of looking at her babies.
Those things are terrifying.
They're 100% full bear strength. Not diet bear.
https://preview.redd.it/h436fra0du6g1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=229a58545effa0c05a46b7d1195b3d09a194de75
Did you just touch me?
No idea what this image is from but hot damn is this funny 🤣
That's Leo.
Jerry, hello!
https://preview.redd.it/qp72j7jb0v6g1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ce043d7ae676651c0db5704aa94909cdf1a0761
DiD yUo JuSt ToUcH mE?
How much y’all wanna bet this is the same bear that was in the video that made the rounds about two weeks ago of a woman just hand feeding it? Some of y’all don’t understand it ain’t cute, it just makes bears get progressively angry at people who don’t have food for them
Exactly. "A fed bear is a dead bear."
And this can be applied to most wild animals unless you're prepared to consistently feed it/them long-term, a la bird feeders.
Don't feed squirrels, raccoons, bears, etc. In the case of dangerous animals, it'll get them put down. In the case of many others, it'll make them reliant on a food source that will vanish once tourism season is over.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, it can also make them reliant on a food source that is very unhealthy for them. The amount of people who feed ducks bread is wild. They love it, because bread is delicious, but it makes them malnourished and impacts the development of young ducks’ wings.
The Japanese city of Nara is famous for its deer. Unfortunately the deer are there in such numbers that there isn't enough natural food for them, and the rice crackers they're fed by tourists aren't enough to keep them nourished properly. Individual deer can become aggressive if they're not fed promptly. When tourism was restricted by COVID things got even worse, because they lost the calories they were getting from tourists feeding them.
This is Gatlinburg, TN. Developmentally, it's a strange place, with a very busy downtown area in the middle of basically the woods. Every time I've gone, I've seen bears. It's sort of a thing there. Your general point is spot on, wild animals are wild for a reason and we shouldn't be promoting the feeding of bears.
Now the dude having the balls to touch the bear, and then turn his back to that bluff charge, that's something else.
They have bears roaming around but open-air stores/stores that leave their doors wide open? What a wild place...
Lol, yes. To be fair, the strip in Gatlinburg is usually pretty crowded with people. It is a tourist trap area. Black bears do wander around, but they aren't fond of people and generally won't go in a store. This one is coming out at night when the area is becoming less crowded. He will be raiding the trash cans in front of the stores and dumpsters behind the stores. As you can see, he has got plenty of winter fat built up. Most people with sense give them a wide berth when they stroll down the sidewalk sniffing all the good smelling food in the air.
If he becomes too much of a nuisance or danger to the public, they will ship him off deeper into the mountains. Rest assured that the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency has their eye on him. Its a live and let live situation in Gatlinburg until they decide he has got to go. Seeing black bears casually walking down the sidewalk is part of the experience in Gatlinburg. Lol
It would be unusual NOT to see a bear in that area. They just come into the town because it’s their habitat/home. Add in all the food smells and trash and the bears are definitely going to come calling.
I found that bluff charge extremely interesting. I thought the bear just last-second decided not to go forward with it, but you're suggesting it was deliberately a bluff.
Bears, especially black bears, have a bluff charge as part of their self defense. Recognizing a bluff charge is pretty important to dealing with black bears, which are common in my neck of the woods. That said, while a black bear can fuck you up, they rarely do, so you can kinda assume that most of their charges are bluff charges. Dude in the video is gambling on it, and came out ahead. You don't always.
Unfortunately a lot of people seem to think that getting a wild animal to approach you for food = befriending/“taming” it, when in reality it just means they’re progressively losing their fear of humans.
They’re still wild animals, and they a) usually become pushy unpredictable assholes (just because they’ll take your food, and they let you touch them that one time without freaking out, doesn’t mean you can now pet it any time sans risk) and b) are at a heightened risk of being injured or killed. Wild animals that aren’t afraid of people will travel deeper into populated/urban areas for food, and they’re much more likely to be hit by cars, trains, etc., or encounter people who, well, suck.
This whole process further takes them out of their natural environment, creating and reinforcing a cycle of dependence on humans, but without any intentional animal husbandry/breeding to result in domesticated species in the end; all it does is put humans and wild animals alike in harm’s way.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting some seeds/suet/corn out for the birds, squirrels, deer, etc., but we really need to minimize our direct interference with wildlife when we don’t understand (or do, honestly) the implications of doing so.
So we need to domesticate bears is what I'm hearing.
On it chief. I'll report back in a week.
I mean, it is doglike (caniform). Must be a friend.
It's like people completely failed to understand the lessons Betty White tried to teach us in the cinematic masterpiece that was Lake Placid, smh
“A fed bear is a dead bear” I really wish people would quit pretending their in a fuckin Disney fantasy and leave wild animals the hell alone :/
Meanwhile, people forget that Disney World has real alligators because it’s in Florida and there ARE gators in that pond.
This is in Gatlinburg. Very touristy. Locals know better, but I guarantee tourists just don't heed the warnings in and around the national park.
everyone walked so relaxed..
Black bears are generally pretty docile (as evidenced by it not actually attacking the guy that touched it), and are also kind of scaredy cats. You can usually scare a black bear away just by making loud noises and making yourself look big. I once saw a black momma bear charging at some tourists who got too close to her cub, and a park ranger got in between and stopped her dead in her tracks by yelling and throwing branches on the ground.
So yeah, if you see a black bear and you just mind your own business, it‘s typically not a threat. And even if it does become a threat, you can usually just scare it off.
Does this only apply to black bears?
YES, a brown bear would have mauled tf out of the dude. And a polar bear would already be eating the dude before any of this went down.
You’re taught to get loud and big to scare a black bear off. Play dead and pray the bear loses interest if it’s a brown bear. And just prepare for death if it’s a hungry polar bear (prey is few and far in between for them so they’re the most interested in actually eating you).
As a kid, I was taught, « if it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s white, goodnight. »
There have been no bears in the UK for 3,000 years but as a kid, I imagined it was just a matter of time before they came back and that’s why they needed to teach that to us.
I’ve been on the lookout for quicksand for decades now
Was this the bear that was recently in Gatlinburg?
That's like a daily occurrence in Gatlinburg, though.
You mean Tuesday?
I don't think Tuesday is a daily occurrence.
It is if I eat tacos every day
My fam rented a cabin in Gatlinburg which sat at the top of a sloped mountain. This bear showed up and startled us while we sat on the porch. He made his way down the mountain and it was quite entertaining hearing the individual screams coming from each porch dwelling family as he descended. It felt cartoonish, but completely in line with the Gatlinburg experience.
Its kinda like tracking a predator by the alarm calls of local animals haha
Went out to a cabin for a weekend outside of Gatlinburg and had a whole family of black bears come onto the porch. We didnt have any food outside or anything, but they're probably used to people doing that. Beautiful creatures, though.
We were in Gatlinburg this summer and rented a cabin in Wears Valley, up on top of one of the mountains, and had a family of bears visit just about every day.
This was the view from the rear deck:
https://preview.redd.it/vly1s1n41v6g1.jpeg?width=4288&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ac60d9a60170912725725e830d04e9f86ce781d
Incredible!
Yes. This looks like Gatlinburg by the candy shop? If this is where I think this is .. I have walked around there with my kids pretty late at night.
black bears are generally pretty peaceful as you can see from the video.
I heard a thump on my porch a few months ago at night. I open the blinds and there's a black bear sitting on my porch railing, eating apples off of my tree. Had the most "huh?" look on his face I had ever seen. I shouted at him because I live near people who want to sanitize nature, but as someone who is terrified of bears, it was a really lovely moment.
https://preview.redd.it/a24jjoc9ku6g1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=754dd087a413c01fadc51c9b9b0829f9a4e11d80
Requiem
I once walked out the back door of my family cabin to go micturate amongst the trees, by the time I was halfway from the door to the trail, I noticed a juvenile cinnamon coloured black bear sitting like a dog on the trailhead just munching on berries or something in the short grass. I yelled HI BEAR to hopefully run him off, but within three seconds my brother came high tailing around the cabin with an air horn blaring and scared it off. Poor guy looked so confused that we would interrupt his snack. He gave me the sad head tilt and everything.
Best not to let him be too comfy around our home away from home though.
Yeah. My cousins have a hunting cabin in West Virginia. Before it was all sealed in I guess there was an incident with several bears playing Goldilocks in the downstairs.
I guess they ate whatever food they were trying to get and my aunt sat at the top of the stairs with the shotgun in case one of them decided to come up. She was saying they started moseying off one by one a little bit after midnight.
Iirc this is Gatlinburg, TN. A tourist destination in the Smoky Mtns. Bears get very habituated; raid dumpsters, get bold enough to enter homes, etc. Usually ends very poorly for the bear(s). (Nice vocabulary btw ;))
Sanitize nature, that's perfectly worded.
Yes, these people need stop trying to do that.
I literally ran into a black bear while fishing. We were both coming around the same bend in the river and clearly didn’t see each other.
I don’t know who was more startled, we both took off running in opposite directions.
Not according to this
Too old for AI. So you know this is real!
Unfortunately everyone boxed all the boxing bears to death. It's what Canada's boxing day is based off of.
Thanks Obama...
It was an ad for John West tuna, I remember it well. The bear gets kicked in the nads at the end and lets a big groan out. Hilarious.
"Hey look, an eagle!"
Fuck this is a DEEP cut. I downloaded this video over dialup in like 1999.
That's a brown bear, much more aggressive
And also trained in boxing.
Look, an eagle!
I love that this Salmon ad has become meme status 🤣
I wouldn’t say peaceful. They scare easier than other bears so you can often scare them off. But if they’re cornered or hungry they’ll definitely attack and can kill you
Bro did a flinch-strike like a misunderstood street thug who in reality just wants to be left alone with a backyard hammock and some sweets
They are largely just oversized raccoons. Honestly raccoons might be more aggressive.
Edit:
Since people seem to be confused about this, I'm not saying that black bears aren't dangerous, just that they are relatively docile and like trash
A raccoon sized black bear is a curious lil cutie. A black bear sized raccoon is a menace to society
I think it's the hands 👐
That 400lb raccoon can use doorknobs
Lol at 400 lbs being able to use doorknobs becomes irrelevant they'd just tear off the door
Can confirm! They roam the streets of the town I live in during the summer at night and the only thing that’s on their mind is opening trash bins to have a snack. They are usually pretty skittish when humans are around.
Tip for everyone: If ever in this situation yell "WATCH OUT! STAY BACK! THERE'S A BEAR!" and if anyone starts crowding aggressively yell "STAY BACK!" Others will join you in shaming people and warning people.
Its crazy to me that you even have to tell people to stay back from potentially dangerous wildlife. I saw this video in Yellowstone of people just casually walking up to Bison. It ended exactly how you think it would. The bison charged them, I think fortunately nobody got hurt but damn, some people really go to these places and dont understand thats a wild animal that will kill you or your children. Also just cause its a herbivores doesn't mean it won't fuck you up if it feels threatened. Even elk will attack you. Its okay to want to see wildlife in person you've never seen before just observe from a distance.
you ever watch those sci fi movies and cringe at how unrealistic it is when someone tries to get all close and cool with an extraterrestrial creature only to get mauled, forcibly fertilized, and/or eaten by said creature. over time, i've realized maybe not so unrealistic anymore
They ended up killing that bison when person was posing with it and even touched it. I feel you do that you should go to jail for 6 months.
That was exactly my thought. A safer way to protect those kids would be to yell "hey there's a bear, get out of here"
No need to get anywhere near the bear
As someone from Knoxville, black bears are generally docile
Don't approach or interact with them unless you WANT them to get angry. Just walk around
And if they try to approach you, don't run. Stick your arms out and yell at it, it will likely run away. They aren't Grizzlies. They're oversized raccoons
That entire family hears a bear roar and a woman scream, and not one of them looks to see what the commotion is for like 3 whole seconds??
0 survival instinct.
It’s gatlinburg, a tourist trap in the smokies, if you freak out every time you hear a girl scream in excitement and a growl you’re probably not making it out without a heart attack. It gets packed like a can of sardines there plus there’s all sorts of animatronics advertising for the hundreds of Ripleys attractions, if I remember correctly there’s even an animatronic T. rex that growls at you not far from this exact location the video is taken
Lol the guy who touched the bear though, you have a good argument he has no survival instincts. It’s very nice of OP to say he was doing this to “protect” those kids but to me it looks like he’s already fucking with the bear way before he could see the family.
I was sitting here thinking "man, I went on vacation years back and remember running into black bears like this on like 3 separate occasions that week, where the fuck was that?"
Then I read your comment and realized, yep, was Gatlinburg. Lots of fuckin bears there apparently. My stepmom stepped outside of our cabin and was pretty much face to face with one. She screamed and they both jumped 10 feet in the air and hauled ass in opposite directions, lmao
The bear isn't really interested in the kids. That's a black bear. It's going for the garbage cans.
If it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s white, goodnight.
General rule of thumb for bears is to stay tf away from them though.
I can tell it's right, because it rhymes
If it's black and white prepare to kung fu fight
Funny looking bear mister
Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Moobelline
If it’s grey and sleepy, offer ecualyptyey.
Also rule of thumb for bears - if you see one, hold your arm out completely straight and put your thumb up. If your thumb can't completely cover the bear in your line of sight, you're too close. (this is information that they pass around in the Smokies because tourists can't help themselves when they see the black bears/cubs)
Also a rule of thumb while driving, if your thumb covers the red oil light-icon, the car is A-ok
It doubles as advice for surviving nuclear blasts
As far as I’ve heard from people who know stuff about bears, this is a bit inaccurate.
First of all the “if it’s brown lay down”, pertains to if a brown bear actually attacks you, i.e. is currently in the process of mauling you to death. If they approach you, you should calmly speak with them and try to move away without rush. They will sometimes start to charge you and it’s usually just to intimidate you and see your reaction. Here it is still advisable to stand your ground, even take a step forward and speak firmly at the bear, to show it that you mean business. There’s a lot of videos of expert tourist guides, wildlife photographers etc. doing exactly that. Only when the bear actually starts to attack you in the sense of physical contact should you lay down on your stomach and cover your neck and head and hope for the best. At least that’s my understanding.
Also depending on where you are, there are local populations of black bears with a brown coat or brown bears with a black or even a white coat so without knowing the telltale signs (mostly head shape afaik) or the endemic population of where you are it is not so trivial to identify the different species and it is not always a matter of coat coloring.
Yes. It really depends on a lot more than just species how you should react.
When I had to take a bear awareness course a decade ago they emphasized that you should respond to behaviour rather than what type of bear you think it is. Going up to a bear that doesn't seem to be aggressive/predatory like in this video has a chance of it becoming defensive.
With city bears, do you just pretend to look at your cell phone and cross the street?
He poked the bear
Tennesse
Gatlinburg
Those kids were in no danger, its a black bear, not the President of the United States
pretty ballsy to face him after the touch (instead of running away like hell - less smart but more relatable:D)
Never turn and run from predator animals, a lot of predators favourite game is tag.
Also, they can run at like 30-35 mph. So you can't outrun them if they decide to chase.
I don't have to outrun them, I just have to outrun the other person.
That’s why I was shocked he turned his back on it
Well if you’re doing it for a specific reason, you need to make sure you achieved your goal.
I might survive a bear mauling. That kid in the pink coat absolutely will not.
Skill issue
Running triggers chasing.
You're supposed to face black bears because it's in their nature to only pursue you if you run. If you stand up to these bears you have a much better chance of survival because they back down.
All these poor animals forces from their homes to find food ☹️
I mean a lot of the time with animals like this, it's not that their environments are destroyed (though they are to some extent), but rather that their is a higher abundance of food available in areas with a lot of people/
yeah and there's even a bear walking about. utterly unacceptable living conditions really
Imagine getting mauled to death by a bear while OMG by Usher plays in the background
No he wasn’t. He was being a dummy.
Buy that man a new set of pants and underwear.
Did no one think to yell "hey, watch out" to that family that obviously didn't see the bear...
We tear down their homes. More and more we destroy anywhere they have to live and travel. Then we still get mad and surprised when they show up.
Poor thing looks so stressed out
Poor bear :(