While the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant employees were busy barbecuing, boiling, broiling and baking shrimp, wildlife officials were on the roof of the establishment trying to safely tranquilize and remove a wild bear.
Quite the interesting spectacle played out yesterday in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Millions of people flock to Smoky Mountain National Park every year to take in the beautiful scenery and witness the incredible wildlife (and moonshine tastings) that Gatlinburg has to offer. In fact, the National Park of the Great Smoky Mountains in the most visited national park in the country.
Why? Because cabins are plentiful there, and there’s plenty of fun for the whole family packed into Gatlinburg and the surrounding area. However, one thing that’s often forgotten is that… well, the location of the tourist hotspot is right smack dab in the middle of nature, and more specifically, bear country. So animals encounters are inevitably going to happen.
On November 21, that came in the form of a 375-pound black bear climbing on top of a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, which is located in the heart of downtown Gatlinburg (I’ve actually eaten there a handful of times).
According to reports, the bear had been stuck up on the roof since about 2 a.m. that morning, and videos and photos had spread online of the large wild animal wondering around on top of the many building that are connected on the Gatlinburg strip. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency responded to the scene, and quickly tried to figure out how to safely remove the bear from the premises without harming it or any people that were around.
“Gatlinburg LIVE” was there to capture that entire process, which eventually led to a wildlife deputy firing a tranquilizer at the sizable black bear. The operation was a success, and the bear slowly but surely became woozy from the tranquilizer and went down on the roof. Once the TWRA was able to confirm it was chemically immobilized, a bucket truck was used to safely transport it to the ground.
It then took almost a dozen men to lift the black bear up into the transport vehicle:
“After a tranquilizer and a tense few moments, officers were able to safely secure the bear and lower it down with a bucket truck. It took nine men to get this big guy into the transport vehicle.”
Truly a wild scene.
The 375-pound bear was later released back into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There’s no word as to whether or not the bear ever got any barbecued or broiled shrimp through its efforts, but most importantly, the whole tranquilize-and-transport mission was pulled off successfully with no one being harmed in the incident.
And Bubba Gump Shrimp even responded to the wild story, quoting Forrest Gump, thanking the officers that responded, and voicing their gratefulness that the bear was safely returned to the wild:
“Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know when a bear’s gonna climb on top of our restaurant in Gatlinburg. In all seriousness, we are happy to hear that the bear is okay and has been relocated to its natural habitat!”
