A B.C. man got more than he bargained for when he walked into his garage earlier this week.
In video posted to Instagram, Alex Gold shared security camera footage of a black bear charging at him and stopping just centimetres away as Gold begins to clap and make noise.
The bear then runs at him again as Gold backs away, clapping and keeping his eye on the bear as a cub walks in the background.
“I’ve met bears before but never as close as it was this time,” he captioned the video, tagging it as taking place in the Coquitlam region of B.C.’s Lower Mainland. “Unforgettable experience!”
A video posted by Alex Gold to his Instagram page shows him having to act fast after he walks into his garage to find a charging black bear in the Tri-Cities area of B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
CBC News has reached out to Gold, who says in his caption that the encounter happened on Sept. 18.
His reaction is being dissected as the clip has been widely shared across Instagram and other social media sites, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments.
“This man’s Canadian. He’s fine. He did what you are supposed to do,” reads the top comment on the original post. “Don’t turn your back. Make noise. Don’t run.”
Others suggest they wouldn’t have been as collected in the same situation.
“I would be terrified!” reads another top comment, while several others question why Gold didn’t immediately run away.
Calmness is key: bear expert
But Holly Reisner, the co-executive director of the North Shore Black Bear Society, says as tough as it might be, staying calm and not moving quickly is the best thing you can do.
“Take a deep breath,” she said of what to do when a black bear is encountered. After that, she said, you want to start talking to the bear in a calm but firm tone of voice.
“It doesn’t really matter what you say or what language … bears recognize us as humans by the sound of our voice.”
Talking to the bear calmly, she said, helps them understand there isn’t a threat.
Susan Gray says this backyard visitor spent over an hour playing with a water feature made for birds in Prince George, B.C.
“They really don’t want to waste energy by running or charging,” she said, explaining that especially in the autumn, bears are highly focused on eating as much as possible ahead of the winter — increasing the odds of them coming into human spaces looking for food.
That, she said, is one area of advice she would give, noting that both the garage door and car door in the video were open, giving the bear a chance to move into the enclosed space without a clear exit once Gold entered the frame.
“Keep anything ground level shut, doors, windows,” she advised. “We just don’t want our bears being tempted into any of those spaces to find anything to eat.”
Just to underline that point, the Coquitlam RCMP shared a video in June showing a black bear attempting to chew its way out of a garage it had been trapped in.
🐻👮You never know what the day will bring. We responded to a bear stuck in a garage trying to paw its way out.<br><br>Officers were able to help the furry intruder escape through a side door and back to living its best wild life.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BearAware?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BearAware</a> safety tips: <a href=”https://t.co/lT4KAF2OV2″>https://t.co/lT4KAF2OV2</a> <a href=”https://t.co/cDgl27dIRQ”>pic.twitter.com/cDgl27dIRQ</a>
—@cqrcmp
“Officers were able to help the furry intruder escape through a side door,” the police force said, sharing a link to its bear safety tips page which includes reducing the amount of food and garbage on properties that might attract a bear.
Reisner agreed, saying it is largely impossible to create a bear-proof garbage bin or storage container, so the best bet is to scrub out bins with soap and vinegar and keep the smelliest bits of garbage — “meat, fish, steaks” — in a freezer until collection day.