In viral TikTok video, black bear joins South Ga family for breakfast
The video has over 15 million views
ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - During a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, a South Ga. native and his family experienced a very close encounter with a black bear.
“I wasn’t thinking the bear was going to you know, really come up,” Joseph Barron, who encountered the bears, said. “I was just doing like a little cat call or something like that so the bear can come so when the bear finally rose up and lift on the gate, I backed up. And like I saw the bear jump, that’s when I jumped.”
Barron tells WALB, that’s when the entire family bailed on breakfast and ran inside.
“Once the bear jumped the gate, I was like, ‘Aw, man, we’re dead. We’re all dead,” said Joseph Barron.
The bear’s visit wasn’t a total surprise, Joseph’s family saw the cub’s family roaming around the neighborhood days before.
“First time we get there to the cab, like twill and next thing you know, group of bears like a mom and cubs are walking up the street, the bears was like in a dumpster and walking around the cabin and come down the road. That’s my first time ever seeing a bear,” said Barron.
The trip was supposed to be a peaceful getaway in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. On the last day full day of their vacation, the family wanted a memorable moment - a breakfast of bacon and waffles while overlooking the smoky mountains. Instead, they got their memory but not their breakfast.
“He ate the bacon when he jumped the balcony, and she dropped her plate on the balcony, and the bear ate the piece of bacon. He started licking the plate,” said Barron.
Bear encounters like this one are not uncommon in Georgia, particularly up North. But if you find yourself having an unexpected visitor like Joseph and his family did, There are things you should and should not do.
“If you can make yourself appear big, you know, yell, scream, during a group, you know, everybody can kind of do this together, and the bears going to leave, you know, nine times out of 10,” State Bear Biologist Adam Hammond said.
Many say with every situation, there is always a lesson to be learned.
“Don’t be dumb like me because in a moment, they can snap, but they are wild creatures, wild animals, so they really can snap at you at any moment,” Barren said.
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