by Shawn Skipper - Friday, October 2, 2015
Bears have made their way into many a "Wilder World Outdoors" entry—the furry little guys just have a knack for getting into trouble. They fight each other in people's lawns, get their heads stuck in cookie jars, interrupt baseball games...there's no end to their shenanigans. So long as you're not in the crosshairs of a hunter's optic, the world's your playground when you're a big ol' bruin. An Alaskan woman found that out the hard way earlier this week.
In a video posted to YouTube, a black bear confronts a woman who's purportedly on a small island in Berg Bay, Alaska, before ultimately chowing down on her only means of transportation: the kayak she paddled in on.
Posted on Sept. 29, the footage is shot from the perspective of a concerned kayaker, who allegedly parked her boat on the shore before heading into a nearby cabin for lunch. Upon investigation, she found a black bear milling around the entryway. Prepared for just such an occasion, she makes a racket and ultimately the bear—which visibly tries to approach her—with her bear spray or, as she describes it "pepper spray." The canned defense does the trick, to an extent, and the bear retreats a bit.
Much to her horror, though, the furred menace turns its attention to her kayak, putting tooth and claw alike to work on the boat's frame. As the video continues, the kayak's owner vehemently protests this, screaming "Stop bear, please stop!" and other objections in an increasingly shrill tone. She threatens to spray the bear a second time, but doesn't follow through—and, as a result, Boo-Boo continues to put a hurting on her ride. Fortunately, the bruin never does turn its attention back to whoever was behind the camera. Must have been a tasty kayak.
Or, hey, as a colleague put it earlier today, maybe the guy's name wasn't "Bear." It's a fair point.
