Black Bear Casually Joins Family For Peanut Butter Sandwich Picnic
Family-oriented television programs and cartoons generally come to mind when you think of humans communicating with friendly bears. Bears have a bad rep for being aggressive. They are, after all, wild animals.
This August, a black bear joined a family for a picnic, but it wasn’t on TV. As this new video from Kaitlyn Nesbit reveals, the scenario played out in real life when a family wanted to eat peanut butter sandwiches in the open in Deep Creek, Maryland. After that, the black bear wanted to join them for a short snack.
Be sure to read all the way to the bottom of this article to see the entire video
When the bear came out of hiding, the family wanted to eat at a picnic table in their Deep Creek, Maryland cabin, according to the New York Post. The forest creature most certainly smelled the peanut butter and desired a bite.
The bear quickly accepted a peanut butter sandwich offered by one of the men. The bear was well aware of what it was seeking. Fortunately for the picnicking boys, the bear was only interested in food, not them.
People had sometimes seen the bear wandering around the cabins, so the family was familiar with it. Over time, the bear most likely became accustomed to humans. The typical bear, on the other hand, would not boldly approach a group of humans. And the typical family is unlikely to be unconcerned about the existence of such a massive predator.
The pictures of the family and the bear may be manipulated, according to the skeptics. There is some additional proof. The pictures aren’t from a still camera. They’re screen grabs from a short video that you can watch below. Nothing appears to be staged or choreographed. And you can hear shocked onlookers in the background.
Many unfamiliar with black bears could be perplexed as to how the animal felt so at ease around humans. Unlike grizzly bears, black bears have found ways to thrive in areas where vast swaths of forest have been replaced by cities and towns. According to The Humane Society, these bears will hide from humans and feed on garbage cans.They have been known to break into people’s homes and raid refrigerators.
Officials in Maryland were most definitely not amused. Feeding wild bears is prohibited by Maryland statute. There are good reasons for this rule. It is extremely dangerous to approach a bear too closely. Bears may also believe that humans will always provide food, causing them to approach humans. And this could endanger both humans and bears.
When black bears get too close, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources recommends that people try to scare them away. The “suggestions list” includes yelling, crying, and banging pots and pans. The safest outcome is for the noise to scare the bear away. Keeping the bear as far away from humans as possible thus preventing further incursions.
The family in the video is extremely fortunate. Someone may have been seriously hurt or even killed. It is not advisable to interact with wild animals, especially bears. No one knows how a wild animal would react, and attempts to feed them have resulted in injuries. As a result, although the video is whimsical, viewers do not want to use it as a source of inspiration.
