‘That’s so sad, actually’: Zoo goers witness the bear version of ‘West Side Story’ as bear gang war ends in tragedy

Disney is already releasing prequel movie Mufasa, but just in case Disney wants to keep on milking The Lion King for all it’s worth, here’s an idea the studio can have for free — or maybe a six-figure fee, but I’ll discuss that with Bob Iger later. OK, here goes: The Lion King… but make it bears.

That’s basically the gist of this blackly comic TikTok video showcasing a shocking altercation between two bears in a zoo. Initially, the bear in the foreground waves its paws frantically in the direction of the person filming, which the video jokingly describes as the bear doing “gang signs.” Apparently, there’s some sort of gang war going on in this enclosure, though, as another bear then comes up behind the first and pushes him into the abyss, Mufasa vs. Scar-style!

We haven’t seen such a dramatic and tragic gang incident since Riff and Bernardo duked it out in West Side Story. Clearly, somewhere else in this enclosure, there’s a girl bear and a boy bear from the two different gangs who have fallen in love, and that’s why the ursine hostilities have kicked off like this. Don’t worry, bear lovers, there’s a place for you somewhere. Some day, these bears will find a new way of living… Which, you know, doesn’t involve re-enacting Disney’s most traumatizing death scenes.

While the original video plays this tragic scene for laughs. those in the comments are full of sympathy for Grizzly Mufasa. “HELP IS THE BEAR OKAY?” one asked. “No coz I actually feel so bad for that bear,” another admitted. “I kind of fell bad for the bear not gonna lie,” reads another comment.

Others are wondering if the bear broke some kind of bear code and the other was forced to shove him lest he reveal bearkind’s secret intelligence, a la the toys pretending to be non-sentient in Toy Story. “Not in front of the people!” one comment joked.

But what happened next to our poor, plummeting pal? Well, as Gonzo from Muppet Christmas Carol might say, the bear… who DID NOT die is known to have climbed back up, thanks to context provided by someone who’s seen a longer version of this video. They also clarify that his “gang signs” are actually the bear pleading for food.

“Nah this is sad,” they explained. “The bear was new and begging for food, and the other bears kept throwing him, so this bear climbed back up and sat in the corner lonely, so sad, luckily some people fed him.”

Thankfully, the bear ended up unharmed and well-fed, so we can all rest easy as we wait for the inevitable Disney adaptation. Give me a call, Iger, we’ll talk.