SHEESH, that was a close one.
We’ve seen a number of bears make their way into residential areas, and hangout in peoples’ driveways and front porches, and at times, they’ve even managed to get inside the house and ransack the refrigerator for all of the food.
However, I’ll admit that this is the first time I’ve ever seen a video of one of these creatures hanging around school grounds…
And it nearly gave an elementary school teacher a heart attack.
According to WASZ 3, this all went down at Zela Elementary School in West Virginia, when Principal James Marsh was unlocking the school’s dumpster for the cafeteria staff.
I’m sure this is a normal routine for Marsh, and feels like second nature to him at this point.
But, this time around will be one he’ll never forget for the rest of his life.
In the footage, you can see Marsh unlock the dumpster, and all of a sudden a massive black bear peaks his head through. I don’t think “startled” is a good enough word choice, as you can see Marsh run the opposite direction in terror.
It appears that the principal may have scared the black bear equally as much, as you can see the creature jump out of the dumpster and take off back into the woods.
You can also see Marsh put his hands on his knees once he realized the coast was clear, probably counting every blessing he’s got.
He told the outlet:
“Things go in (a dumpster), but you just don’t expect anything that big to come out of it.
I have not been that close to one (a bear), and I doubt that many people have.”
Marsh continued:
“I didn’t even get to open the lid. It just popped out of there like a jack-in-the-box. It let out a pretty loud growl or roar actually, and that was about the most intimidating thing of the whole event.
The students at the school, they wanted to see it, and I showed it to all of them. They thought it was just hilarious. I had a couple little girls tell me when you see a bear, you’re not supposed to run.”
So, I’m just trying to figure out how this massive black bear got locked into a dumpster. How did the staff not notice a massive black bear hanging out down there when they were closing up?
Nevertheless, it’s high quality entertainment:
