‘Sure the cop is following the black bear around’: Bear casually causes chaos among shoppers when it wanders into busy store

Most of us probably figure we’ll never actually see a bear in our lifetime. Sure, you could run into one when you’re camping, which is why you’ve been told to hide food. You also might see one if you’re hiking in the woods. But if you’re not super outdoorsy and prefer Netflix to building fires, you might think you’ll never meet one in your everyday life.

That being said, TikTok is here to prove us wrong. @pubity (thanks to @ViralHog/Donna Palokat) shared a video of a black bear wandering through a store. It’s unclear which store this was and where this happened. Viewers can see a cop walking behind the bear, and since it seems to have made outside, everything worked out okay. But it’s hard not to gasp at this memorable sight.

How did people respond? If I saw a black bear in a store I was shopping in, I’d probably freeze and then hopefully find a safe way to get out of there ASAP. But most people were happy to see the bear! Many commenters were concerned, with one TikTok user writing “Poor thing was probably so confused and terrified.” Another called him “so well-behaved” and another called him “calm.” One user wrote, “Sure the cop is following the black bear around.” Another compared this situation to the question of a man or a bear and wrote, “This is why we chose bear.”

One user wrote “My toxic trait is that I really want to pet a bear” and it’s clear this TikTok spoke to many people’s secret wishes to meet a bear and give it a pet. But, of course, as we could probably guess, it’s not a good idea to pet a bear! They could bite or hit a human who touches them, and that could happen whether they’re leisurely strolling through a store or out in the forest.

What should you do if you see a bear? According to the National Park Service, being chill is the best way to handle it. You shouldn’t find safety in a tree or run away (well, unless you want to star in your own horror movie). However, you can chat to the bear so they know you’re human and not an animal they want to hurt. As the website explains, bears would rather do what they want than harm humans. Of course, interacting with one can be fatal, so it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

This TikTok is definitely unique, but bears do show up in other places. In September 2022, a bear went into an Olympic Valley, California 7-Eleven. The bear was thrilled since they got the chance to grab any food products they wanted. Does it count as stealing when a bear does it? Although most might not witness a bear comparing deals or window shopping in a store, bears sometimes end up in towns and cities. In April 2022, the Asheville Citizen Times reported that a black bear was hanging out in the downtown area of the North Carolina city. Experts say that’s not out of the blue, so if you live there, you might have seen this more than once.

I’m going to think about this TikTok for a long time. And if I see a bear in its natural habitat (which is unlikely since I’m not into camping or hiking) or in a store (perhaps more likely), I’m going to walk away as peacefully as I can.