In rural communities, visiting black bears can add a lot of excitement to the day. Lured into town by unsecured garbage cans, the promise of a street brawl, or just plain old curiosity, they can pop up out of nowhere, scaring the humans that live nearby.
Despite the fact that a full-grown black bear would have absolutely no trouble overpowering a person, these creatures tend to be shy, erring on the side of caution and retreat unless their survival or young are threatened.
In fact, it is advised when you see a black bear to stand your ground and make a lot of noise. Even a good bop on the nose is enough to make a black bear think twice about tussling with you.
In the case of this video, it’s even simpler. With just a few stern words from the person behind the camera, the sheepish bear turns heel and retreats. While bears cannot understand our speech, they have the intelligence to read tone and body language.
Thankfully, this particular visit ended without any drama, and we hope that the wandering bear found a nice berry bush in the wild.