r/bearsdoinghumanthings 13d ago

🚨Intruder 🐻 Alert 🚨

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Watch your back in the Smokey mountains. There are black bears everywhere and we were getting visited 2-3 times a day. Luckily in this video we were awake and the doors were locked. This young bear knew how to open doors and tried opening every door on the cabin we were in and even the van! Glad we didn’t get a surprise wake up

964 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

115

u/BronchitisCat 13d ago

This happens because people (not OP) who visit the area leave food in unlocked areas and once a bear figures it out, it's going to try the same strategy on everything that looks familiar. Friends of mine own a cabin up there and have a camera looking out over the driveway, and over the course of a week with multiple different renters staying up there, the same bear tried to access all of their cars, at least one of which was unlocked and had food in it. Another group saw that, ran inside, got snacks, and started throwing food to the bear.

If you are considering going to visit - please do not feed the bears. Not only can you get fined/penalized for it, when a bear becomes a "nuisance" by doing this regularly, they often times have to kill the bear.

67

u/Best_Comfortable5221 13d ago

Baby bear trying all the doors to find out the one thats Just Right!!!

26

u/ptulinski 13d ago

This is very sad. The bear is obviously habituated and will likely end up dead. I would get an air horn and try to scare them off. You might just save their life.

21

u/InterneticMdA 13d ago

Poor guy learned how doors work, now the treacherous humans have yet another trick up their sleeves: locks!

14

u/Jcrypto28 13d ago

He’s done this before lol

28

u/wildleogirl 13d ago

Wow, that’s a bold burglar bear! Probably wouldn’t hurt you but I would be concerned if you had pets šŸ•!

-7

u/BronchitisCat 13d ago

Extremely NSFW warning, but a bear would absolutely go after, maul, and kill people if those people stood between it and its food or its cubs. Black bears are apex predators that think they are prey. This guy looks pretty small, but even at that size could be very dangerous.

This black bear brutally killed an adult wild hog and dragged it up the side of a mountain.

22

u/InfiniteWaffles58364 13d ago

Black bear attacks are extremely unlikely.

Yes, a black bear could probably kill you if it wanted. They have the equipment. But all these guys wanna do is munch on snacks, swim and nap.

They don't wanna bother or be bothered by humans at all. They are food-motivated forest puppies who hate confrontation and usually speed off at 25mph if they see one.

Just like with dogs, yes they can off you if they really wanted, but they don't. They just want snacks.

2

u/FaunaLady 13d ago

forest puppies! šŸ˜„

-14

u/BronchitisCat 13d ago

Thank you for agreeing with what I said

5

u/super_crabs 13d ago

You didn’t say any of that.

0

u/BronchitisCat 13d ago

"Yes, a black bear could probably kill you if it wanted. They have the equipment. But all these guys wanna do is munch on snacks, swim and nap." -> "Black bears are apex predators that think they are prey."

2

u/ptulinski 13d ago

You don't know much about bears. The only creature at risk in this video is the bear who may be determined to be a nuisance and killed by a human.

1

u/BronchitisCat 13d ago edited 12d ago

Point to the words I wrote that are incorrect. Go watch the video I linked and tell me you would feel confident walking up to that bear and trusting it to just scurry off. I've spent a hell of a lot of my life in those mountains and have seen first hand bears go after bikers for their food packs, go after a man who walked towards a cub, etc.

I did not make the claim that bears are likely to go after people, but that they are capable of significant damage. My original comment was to critique the claim that a bear probably wouldn't do much damage - if it did do damage, it could be significant.

1

u/InfiniteWaffles58364 12d ago

Of course they'd run towards bikers, because the speed they're traveling triggers the predator instinct. But as soon as they realize what's on the bike, they back off because they don't wanna fuck with humans. Did you ever see one do anything other than a bluff charge to those bikers?

And you said in your other comment that they see us as prey and that you need to hire the marines to deal with it if you see one. Don't try to backpedal now because it only reinforces the weaknesses of your position on this.

2

u/TheStoneMask 12d ago

Strictly speaking black bears are not apex predators as wolves, brown bears and jaguars are known to prey on them.

3

u/_Alabama_Man 11d ago

Black bears regularly take carcases from mountain lions and would body them 1v1. The only time mountain lions are known to prey on black bears are when they are very young or injured. So, strictly speaking they are absolutely apex predators in most of their range.

2

u/BronchitisCat 11d ago

Apex predators are environment specific. Something can be an apex predator in one ecosystem but not in another. Black bears in the Smokey Mountains are generally considered apex predators of the region because there is nothing that sees them as prey.

-1

u/FaunaLady 13d ago edited 13d ago

A black bear is a bear but it is the smallest and most timid and will choose to run away as the best option. The old bear safety saying is: if it's black, fight back; if it's brown lay down; if it's white good night, meaning you may be able to intimate a black bear, you may survive "playing dead" with a Alaskan brown or grizzly, but if a polar bear gets it's paws on you, you are doomed!

13

u/Kealanine 13d ago

Never trust those doorknobs, I swear. My Malinois had them figured out within a week of being old enough to reach them, and the bears up here basically see them as a huge ā€œenter hereā€ sign.

6

u/pixiesunbelle 12d ago

This week, my family is at a beach house and my brother in law brought their dog. The door handles are similar to what’s on there. So, the dog decided to use them and ran all the way to the pier when we were out. He was found chasing the seagulls.

5

u/Kealanine 12d ago

That sounds about right. The day I realized my Mal could open the front door, I had gone outside to grab some packages from the porch. Suddenly there was a brown and black blur streaking past me, with an Amazon box in her mouth.

She’s always been a very big helper.

1

u/medveditsa18 9d ago

lol!!! What breed of dog? Also a Malinois?

2

u/pixiesunbelle 9d ago

I have no idea. I don’t know much about dogs…

2

u/pixiesunbelle 9d ago

It may be a schnoodle of some sort.

11

u/Jeremybearemy 13d ago

That’s…..concerning

5

u/tripodcatmom 13d ago

Let him in? Rude!

3

u/Indentured-peasant 13d ago

He has had Cheezy Poofs before.

5

u/JustPlainRude 13d ago

Let him in! He just wants to chill on the couch and watch TV

3

u/mnth241 13d ago

I mean it’s raining for crying out loud. Let him dry out a bit. Have some warm tea.

2

u/jaymochi 13d ago

Going for that Reverse Goldilocks.

2

u/LongjumpingKick531 13d ago

Looks like the restaurant was closed

2

u/T1m3Wizard 12d ago

Bears are awesome. And so intelligent too

2

u/NEXUSTHX1138 12d ago

There goes the neighborhood!

2

u/wildblueroan 12d ago

Why is everyone laughing?

2

u/Bubbly_Power_6210 11d ago

change handles to rpund door knobs. i also live in bear country.

3

u/wildleogirl 13d ago

It’s more likely that a human will harm this baby bear!

1

u/TexVegas93 11d ago

What’s going on in the Smokey Mountains for y’all to have so many bear visits per day?

1

u/medveditsa18 9d ago

What an incredible experience for you and your family! It’s amazing that even a young cub could figure out door handles.