A mama bear was caught on camera charging at an unruly national park visitor after the man attempted to shoo her away to play with her cubs.
In the footage of the incident, which occurred in the Tennessee national park, the unidentified man is seen approaching mama bear and her cubs at a dangerous distance.
The attempt at petting bear cubs was recorded by Paige Marple who was visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on July 13.
In the video, the ignorant visitor is seen reaching out to the trio of bear cubs before following them to the other side of the vehicle they were passing by.
Despite the mama bear walking closely by her cubs to keep them safe, the man approached her once again and attempted to shoo her away.
At that moment, the bear charged at the man and gave him a clear warning. Fortunately for his skin, however, she wasn’t in the mood for a fight.
After the mama bear walked away together with her cubs, the dumbfounded man continued to stand in the middle of the road as if he had no idea why the bear charged at him in the first place.
“In Cades Cove there are signs everywhere stating to stay 50 yards away from the animals,” Paige wrote on Facebook where she shared her video.
“This man did not listen and could have died because of it. I don’t know how he’s still alive honestly. Too close of encounters. STAY AWAY FROM THE WILDLIFE.”
As Ms. Marple added in an interview with Knoxville News Sentinel, the man “looked at us, and he said, ‘Did you see that?’ Like he was proud of it or something.”
According to the national park’s statement shared by WBIR, “bears are wild animals and their behavior is unpredictable.
Mother bears are extremely protective of their young and they will aggressively defend their cubs from harm. By approaching a mother bear with cubs, visitors are putting themselves and others at risk of injury.”
For that reason, approaching bears on purpose can result in park visitors getting banned from the park for life. In addition, the culprit could be charged with a federal misdemeanor and face a $5,000 fine along with a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
It isn’t clear whether the park will press charges against the man.
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