Wildlife encounters can happen anywhere, even on a trail you frequent regularly. This was recently caught on camera as a bear chased a runner outside and inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Watch the clip below:
Runner Kallup McCoy posted the video. The runner has gained fame after running across the country. But in this recent clip, he dealt with a different kind of challenge: an aggressive bear.
The video starts with McCoy saying, “I’m trying to get away from this bear, but he will not leave me alone.”
You can see him running, with a smaller bear running alongside him. McCoy says he was planning to do a nine-mile run when the young bear derailed his plans. He intended to run from Bryson City, Tennessee, into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Throughout the video, you can see McCoy attempting unsuccessfully to haze the bear multiple times, but the animal refuses to go away and even lunges at McCoy several times. At one point, he calls out for help from someone down the trail.
The video ends with McCoy safely away from the bear and talking to an official of some sort. That person tells him that they will probably first try to capture the bear and release it somewhere further from people. However, as they point out in the video, sometimes wildlife officials have no other choice but to euthanize an animal that has become too comfortable or aggressive around people.
Dealing with Aggressive Bears
Local media from that area of Tennessee explained why sometimes bears like this need to be euthanized. They said the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) says it has to do with the bear’s comfort level.
“When bears get to that point, and they’ve lost that natural fear, not only have they lost their natural fear of people, but they also are associating people with food. That can lead to very dangerous behavior,” Janelle Musser, Black Bear Support Biologist for the TWRA, told WATE.
Situations like this are also why many advocate for carrying bear sprays regardless of the type of bear found in the region.