Both bear and man appear to be shocked by the hilarious encounter. Bears are often portrayed as vicious, mindless predators whose very presence puts human lives at risk, when the truth is, attacks are very, very rare. This short clip highlights the deep misunderstanding that we have of bears, and shows that they, too, can be easily startled. For people that may encounter them, wildlife officials say the situation can be resolved peacefully simply by scaring them away.
According to National Geographic, there are typically two types of attacks on humans. One is a defensive attack, which most typically involves defending young or a food source, such as a prey carcass. The second is a predatory attack, which is a completely different scenario, and the bear's behavior is completely different as well. In a predatory attack, the animal is actually looking at you as a food source. Typically, the animal is stalking you, and you'll see the animal. Predatory attacks are extremely rare.According to bear expert, John Beecham, in those cases, you'll want to try to scare it off by yelling or throwing things at it. You've got to become a threat to discourage it from attacking you. You will want to get a stick, make loud noises or threatening gestures toward the bear.The best thing you can do if you share an environment with bears, is to educate yourself about bears and what to do in certain situations. Remember, they are just trying to survive and live their lives peacefully in the wild!If you want to help find solutions to the growing problem of captive bears, please visit our partner charity, ARCTUROS. Like our blog? Sign up to our blog newsletter by CLICKING HERE.