Social media video of a black bear being pestered by people while feasting on fish on the shores of the Campbell River has sparked outrage online and among locals.
The video was posted seven weeks ago to Instagram by user B100k and has now caught the attention of residents in the Vancouver Island city, located about 225 kilometres north of Victoria, B.C.
The video, shot by someone on a bridge looking down at a beach, shows a group of people with fishing gear fixated on a black bear eating at the river’s edge.
Members of the group get within inches of the animal as they pose for selfies and take photos of it. Toward the end of the video, one of the individuals attempts to pet the bear.
Idiots. I grew up with bears on my property constantly. Coming up to the backdoor or surprising me while hunting or picking berries. Black bears are notorious wimps who prefer to run but they’re still bears. While I wasn’t afraid when they came up to me, I was wary as hell. Sure. Your chances are somewhat okay that the bear won’t attack you normally but when you are getting that close and bugging it you’re really risking a lot.
Utter fucking fools.
Like sure, your odds of being attacked, much less severely mauled, are small, but are you really willing to risk being disfigured?