Finding a baby bear in your vehicle is probably not what you’d expect when hearing your car horn go off, but that’s what a few people in Gatlinburg, Tenn., found when they went to check on the noise.
A few visitors to a cabin in the area had just arrived and said they left the car unlocked with a few dog treats inside.
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One of the visitors, Tanya Young, told NBC 10 News WBIR, it’s believed the baby bear smelled the treats and went inside the car, which then shut behind the bear. Young and her friends saw the bear in the car when the car horns started blowing. She also said she saw a bear on its hind legs standing in the woods behind the vehicle.
Young posted a video on Facebook of the encounter, which shows her and her friends inside a second car next to the one now occupied by the bear. One of her friends then attempts to open the door to let the cub out, though it doesn’t work at first.
Then, the second attempt was a success.
“Please be careful … we just need to get them out of Brad’s car,” one person says in the video.
A man then reaches out to the other car and opens the door which begins to then swing back closed, before the bear stops it.
“Oh God, here he comes,” the same person exclaims, as the bear then pushes the door back open and escapes.
According to Jacob Norris, a Zoo Knoxville keeper, whether a bear can open a car door is unknown, but he told CBS 8 that seeing the video was bizarre.
“It’s possible? I guess? I don’t think they would actually go up to a car and try and get in it,” he said.
The second bear, believed to be the mother, remained in the distance as the whole encounter occurred.
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After the bear was out of the vehicle, Young told NBC she called the police who said it was possible the bears were out in search of food.
No one was injured in the incident, including the bears.
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