Where I come from, typically the only creatures you have to worry about sprinting in front of your car is a family of deer, or the occasional possum or armadillo. But a MASSIVE black bear? Unfathomable in my neck of the woods.
However, if you live in Tennessee, as well as other parts of the country with a dense black bear population, this is something you have to keep in the back of your mind. This wild scene went down in Shelbyville, Tennessee, when a driver collided with fully-grown male black bear.
According to News Channel 5, the driver collided with the bear early Saturday morning on Highway 231 in Bedford County, and the creature passed away following the accident. Tad Craig took photos of the black bear, which was estimated to weigh around 500 pounds. He told the outlet:
“It was right in front of my house. The size of it — his head was wider than my son’s torso and just massive. The paws are seven or eight inches wide.”
Although the collision killed the bear and totaled the Nissan Altima, the driver was uninjured. Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency biologists are saying that bear sightings are becoming more common in Middle Tennessee.
Tabitha Lavacot with the TWRA told the outlet:
“Primarily the ones we see are transient bears. They are moving through looking for food, looking for a mate, looking for a new range to reside in.”
Craig also discussed how rare it is to see a bear in their part of Tennessee:
“I was just sad the bear died. The odds of seeing a bear in Bedford County are the same as seeing a raptor. They don’t exist, but obviously they do.”
Check it out:
