A couple of Tennessee women became witnesses to a break-in recently. The ladies had just arrived at a women’s church retreat when they saw the crime unfolding.
But instead of two-legged criminals, the bandits in this case were a little cuter. That’s because Kathie Gentry told Storyful that she witnessed a mama bear break into a parked car with her three bear cubs in tow.
The entire family piled into the vehicle in the viral video, which was originally shared with Storyful and later picked up by other news outlets such as Fox13 and CBS Evening News.
The clip is going viral, both because of the woman’s hilarious reaction to the break-in and because it serves as a reminder of the importance of keeping your doors locked when you’re in bear country.
The Women Were in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, When They Saw the Bears
@cbseveningnews A mama bear in Tennessee was spotted opening the door of a vehicle and climbing inside to grab a bag of food for her three cubs. #bear #tennessee #bears #bearsoftiktok #animals ♬ original sound – CBS Evening News
According to Gentry’s interview with Storyful, she and some friends had just arrived at a women’s retreat in Gatlinburg when she saw the mama bear approaching the car. Both Gentry and another woman can be heard gasping and yelling, while the driver laid on the horn to try to scare the bears away.
However, the noise was no match for the focused mama bear, who opened the door and climbed inside, quickly followed by her curious cubs.
The Bears Stole a Bag From the Car
Eventually, the bears found what they were looking for, and the mom could later be seen crawling out of the car with what appeared to be a gift bag. One has to assume that the bag had some sort of food in it, since most bears are currently on a quest to consume up to 20,000 calories a day as they prepare for their winter hibernation.
“We were thankful they didn’t come to my car next, considering I had snacks and chocolate that I’m sure they would have enjoyed,” Gentry explained to Storyful.
People Laughed at the Video on Social Media
Because no one was hurt and the car had minimal damage, people felt free to joke about the incident online.
“A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do,” one person wrote on the CBS Evening News report.
“Bear necessities,” another person joked.
While this did seem like a funny moment for the women and the bears (though maybe not so much for the car’s owner), it’s worth noting that Gatlinburg is near the Great Smoky Mountains, where black bears are common.
According to the National Park Service (NPS) website, the park is considered bear country, which means bear encounters aren’t exactly rare. That being said, not all of them end as well as this one did. There have been an average of 339 “negative” human-bear encounters per year in the region over the past 10 years. And the NPS says that number may actually be on the low end, since many of these aren’t reported.
That’s why the NPS recommends people in the area stay bear aware and avoid feeding the animals when they see them.