When you’re on vacation, you don’t expect to see a bear in the car. A couple had something of a surprise when on vacation in Tennessee, as four bears – a mother and her three cubs – broke into their car. It can be a little unnerving to see wild animals when you’re just going about your day, and these bears were no exception.
Haley Gray and her husband were vacationing in the town of Gatlinburg, a popular gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, when they spotted four bears in their vehicle. The couple have visited the area previously and did everything before their trip to prevent them from meeting bears, including removing all traces of food from their vehicle.
“There was probably a little over a thousand pounds worth of bears in our car. Just playing around, trying to look for food,” Haley told WKRN. Luckily, after about 45 minutes in the car, the bears all left, but not before the Grays took measures to get rid of them. At first, they tried to frighten off the bears by shouting and activating their car alarm, but then decided to call the police, who were a little bemused at the couple on vacation.
Policeman
Haley said of the policeman who turned up: ““When the police officer got there, he just kind of chuckled, and he said ever since the coronavirus and everything started opening back up, they’ve been used to seeing no people, so they’ve kind of had free reign around here, and now we get one of these calls nearly every day, sometimes more than once a day.”
Five years ago, a Montana family had a similar experience at Yellowstone National Park. While they were in their car, a grizzly bear came up to the vehicle and got on the front of it, and then started to circle the car. In this instance, the bear didn’t manage to get into the car, despite trying to open the windows, and eventually got bored and walked back off.
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