Watch: Bear Opens Car Door, Scares Tourists

Shawn Skipper

posted on June 14, 2016

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As most hunters know, a bear's paw isn't built all that differently than a human hand—at least from a bone structure standpoint. This means, as you might imagine, that bruins are capable of using their paws to perform a number of very human-like tasks—such as opening doors. Every so often, you hear about one of the nosy little buggers walking right through unlocked doors. They seem to have even more success with vehicle doors, which one family recently learned the hard way. In a video posted to YouTube last week (and embedded above), a curious black bear opens the passenger door of a car—with a family of tourists still very much inside.

Fortunately, despite the shrieks, no one was hurt. I'd worry that some of the passengers may need a change of pants, though.

The video offers few details as to where and when the incident occurred, though some sources are saying that it was filmed in Yellowstone. The enormous National Park has been in the news a fair bit of late, most recently because of a similar video, which showed a woman being charged by a cow elk after getting too close while trying to take a selfie. With luck, this most recent video will show the uninitiated that no, bears won't be thwarted by car doors.

I've embedded the video above. I'd encourage you to give it a look. Friendly recommendation: turn down the volume before clicking play.

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