Who needs a cup of coffee when you could just walk outside on your back porch and get charged by a bear?
There’s nothing like starting your morning off by testing the ol’ survival instincts. Something that folks living outside of bear country take for granted is… well, walking outside and not having to consider that an apex predator could be lurking nearby. Bears and humans typically don’t have a hard time coexisting, but try telling that to this homeowner in North Carolina.
It’s estimated that 340,000 bears live in the United States, and in certain parts of the country, residents have to always be on alert and keep an eye out for bears. Black bears make up most of that total number (around 300,000), and the “Tar Heel State” is one place where black bears are often spotted. There’s about 20,000 within North Carolina’s state lines.
And we know exactly where one of them was on September 19… in this guy’s backyard, waiting to jump scare him when he exited his home. James Pellerin was waltzing out to his patio around 8 in the morning when, out of the blue and all of the sudden, there was a not-so-friendly bear charging right at him.
Typically, you aren’t ever supposed to run away from a bear. Doing so can trigger their chase instincts. However, in this case, the black bear was already coming right at Pellerin… so it didn’t make much sense for him to stay put. At the very least, he didn’t have enough time to go over the “Rules of Bear Encounters” in his head, so he darted out of the way of the black bear to try and find a safe spot.
That led the North Carolina man up the steps and behind some of his landscaping. The black bear continued its pursuit, that is until Pellerin accidentally knocked the top off of something sitting on the patio, which startled the bear and caused it to retreat. It was only then that the man remembered to speak in a low, commanding voice.
Most people say “HEY BEAR.” He went with something different:
“Uh oh, NOPE… it’s okay buddy. It’s okay buddy. It’s okay.”
Comforting the black bear that just attacked? That’s a new strategy, and I suppose it was effective.
It appears that the bear eventually left, and Pellerin was able to get back into the safety of his own home. After all, this security camera footage did get posted, and it’s now going viral. He’s fortunate that the encounter went down in the way that it did… and something tells me he’s going to be checking corners and peeking out the windows before he exits to the patio from now on:
“BEAR CHASE! This is why you don’t let your guard down on the patio in Western North Carolina.”
I also have to point out that Pellerin has changed a portion of his Instagram bio to read “Currently negotiating peace with the bears.” There’s no doubt about that, and he could have also added “Always willing to tell a bear that it’s okay.”
