A wild bear and a Tennessee theme park worker appeared to give each other a scare on Thursday, when the two nearly collided in a dangerous encounter caught on video.
The animal was somehow able to make its way into a concession stand at Anakeesta, a theme park in Gatlinburg, Tenn., when a worker approached the stand from behind, seemingly unaware of the bear’s presence.
In a now-viral video uploaded to TikTok, people can be heard in front of the stand observing the bear picking through items in the food station.
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“Look at it, he’s drooling, he’s all about this gumbo,” one person can be heard joking in the clip.
But just as the bear turns to go, the worker approaches with a large pot of what can only be assumed to be more gumbo, and the creature quickly lunges at her with its paws up in the air.
After frantically dropping the pot and spilling its contents, the female employee runs off, only to quickly turn and sneak into the booth where the bear had been, closing the door behind her.
The woman, whose identity has not been shared publicly, later declined medical treatment when first responders arrived on the scene, a city representative told TMZ.
The bear reportedly fled the area and is still on the loose.
