A man has been captured on camera stamping on the roof of his car to flush out a bear that has climbed inside, possibly searching for food.
The nervous-looking driver gingerly swings the car door open from above, then kicks the bodywork to scare the animal away, almost losing his footing in the process. It's not clear exactly where the clip was recorded, but the type of vehicles in the clip suggest it's likely somewhere in North America.
The video (which you can see below) was recorded a while back, but came to light this week after being shared on Instagram account TouronsOfYellowstone, which highlights examples of bad behavior at US National Parks and other sites of natural beauty – such as dipping hands in hot springs and taunting elk with predictable results.
An unlocked car poses no challenge to a bear, and even locked vehicles aren't safe – as a Canadian woman discovered last week when a black bear broke into her car overnight and drank 69 cans of soda intended for her food truck business.
Food conditioning
Although nobody was hurt in either of these encounters, it's very important to keep human food well away from wild animals. As the National Park Service (NPS) explains, when animals get used to positive interactions with humans (such as being fed), they will lose their natural wariness and become more likely to seek out people and their settlements in the future. This increases the risk of a dangerous close encounter, which could result in a person being injured, or a bear having to be euthanized for public safety.
"Habituation combined with food conditioning has been associated with a large number of bear-caused human injuries," says the Yellowstone Bear Management Program.
For more advice, see our guides what to do if you meet a bear and wildlife safety: eight tips for unexpected encounters.
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