Bears are curious creatures, and certainly not shy about checking out their surroundings, even if it is an occupied vehicle. Their inspection tends to be fairly comprehensive, too. A group of Yellowstone visitors quickly found out just how thorough a grizzly bear can be when he crossed the road and decided their car looked like it was worth a once-over. YouTube user David B. posted video footage of the entire encounter.
The video uploader wrote in the caption: "This grizzly bear was really hoping to have lunch with my friend David Peters, his wife Valerie, their niece Sage, and my daughter Elise in their car...or maybe it was just interested in that open bag of beef jerky."
Things are innocent enough when the video begins, as it shares a cameraperson's perspective of a grizzly across the street. The bear stops to take a look at a parked car, puts his paws up on the trunk, and then continues on. He decides to make his way towards the cameraperson and before you know it, the bear is standing right in front of their hood. He starts sniffing around, taking particular interest in the driver's side.
The car's occupants seemed to have pretty mixed feelings about the situation. In the audio, you can hear one girl say that she is so scared, while the other says it's "Kinda cool." When the bear puts his paws up on the driver's side window, someone points out that, "If he wanted to bad enough, he could get in." They all conclude that the bear must have smelled the beef jerky.
I am sure everyone in that car was equally as relieved when the grizzly went on his merry way. They did follow one piece of important guidance by refraining to feed the wild bear. Human and bear encounters almost always stem from food or garbage, and not only is it inherently dangerous, but feeding bears can condition them to make bad associations. If bears presume humans always equal food, it's only a matter of time before an incident occurs. In fact, it's actually illegal to feed wildlife in Yellowstone National Park.
It could have been easy to toss some beef jerky out the window in hopes of the bear scurrying away, but good on this group for not doing so.
