There’s nothing quite like enjoying the outdoors as summer starts to wind down. Rachel Schmela and her family did so this last weekend on a trip in Aspen. During these visits, the family is surrounded by all sorts of beautiful trees and creatures, including bears. Unfortunately, one bear uses this as an opportunity to sneak up on a young boy. Although the family is familiar with bears being in the area, this situation was rather unusual.
Normally, the nearby bears only venture near the home at night. But on this particular day, it seems that one bear caught a whiff of food. Rachel’s son was spending time in the backyard, sitting in a comfy chair at the firepit. He was enjoying a bag of kettle corn when the bear approached, all without him even knowing it. Thankfully, the nearby adults saw the creature approach. See how they responded in the video below.
“I was like, frozen for a couple of seconds, I didn’t know what to do,” Rachel says. “Luckily, Rob and his brother kind of jumped into action sooner than I did and they knew just to make some loud noise and that would scare the bear.”
Bear Sneaks Up on Boy Enjoying a Bag of Kettle Corn, Nearly Reaching Him
As footage of that harrowing moment shows, the bear got dangerously close to the boy. Meanwhile, he had absolutely no idea the bear was there until his uncle started to yell, successfully scaring off the curious and hungry creature.
Thankfully, nobody got hurt in this close call. But this is a good reminder to those living near bears and other dangerous wildlife of the importance of staying alert. And if you do find yourself in a similar situation, remember that scaring off a bear involves firm yelling and loud noises, which can include clapping and banging pots.
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