A wild video shows a man fighting off a cookie-stealing bear with a shovel on a California beach.
The incident occurred at Pope Beach in South Lake Tahoe, USA Today reported Tuesday. Derek Sears, 18, told wire service Southwest News he and some friends were in the beach’s picnic area when a brown bear approached them, the outlet reported.
In the video circulating on social media, a bear can be seen strolling up to the picnic area, rummaging through a cooler. Beachgoers can be heard yelling at the bear to get away as someone throws a beach chair in an attempt to scare it off.
“Dude, it took my cookie!” Sears, the cameraman, can be heard yelling. “Hey! Give me my cookie!”
Another man can be seen smacking a shovel against a picnic table as the animal continues walking around the beach. He continues to bang the tool against nearby trees, trying to get the bear to back off.
The bear appears to charge at the shovel-wielding man before the man strikes the animal in the face. (RELATED: Video Shows Bear Roaming Around Classroom After Charging In).
“Dude is fighting a bear.” Watch as a man uses a shovel to scare away a hungry bear from a picnic area on a California beach. pic.twitter.com/e0Qu538jke
— USA TODAY Travel (@usatodaytravel) August 13, 2024
“Bro is fighting a bear,” the cameraman says.
The bear then runs off after being struck.
Sears said he wasn’t surprised to see the bear as encounters are common within the area, USA Today reported.
“Living in Northern California, encountering bears is a normal thing,” Sears reportedly told Southwest News after the encounter. “I was very surprised when the man hit the bear on the head with the shovel.”
“I actually saw two bears going through a dumpster last night,” he reportedly told the news wire service. “So I just stepped out of its way and thought it would make a cool video.”
No one was injured in the encounter, USA Today reported.
