GATLINBURG TN: BEAR/HUMAN PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION WITH VISITORS IS ON THE RISE And How to Stay Safe! 

Now I understand why they call it bear country. At our air bnb, everyday we saw a mama bear and her cubs roaming and climbing trees right in Gatlinburg. We always kept our distance of course did not feed them. Gods creation is beautiful.

This is heartbreaking 💔 for the bears. They keep building in their territory.

I totally agree with the warning of not feeding or engaging with bears of the GSM. However, I think that you're missing some of the point of the problem they're having with bears in the area. Bears are going to smell the food REGARDLESS of if they've been fed or not and if they smell it they're going to come looking for it. And as everyone knows Gatlinburg is full of food so this problem isn't going anywhere. One criticism I have of how Gatlinburg deals with this is a few years ago I saw that they had put fodder shocks on the lamp posts along the main thoroughfare. Seems like a great decoration for autumn but the corn was still on the stalks! The city basically set out lures along the street for the bears. So it's more than just the visitors being irresponsible about the bears for sure.

Thank you for trying to educate the many ignorant people that ruin the national parks for everyone. These are wild animals, not teddy bears. Their sense of smell is incredible so they will be drawn to restaurants and outdoor eating areas looking for food. This reminds me of the fools in Yellowstone that try to pet bison and elk. Leave the animals alone. We are visitors in their home. Respect them and enjoy them at a distance. I live in Knoxville and we are seeing more and more bears in the city. There is so much habitat loss and human encroachment, the animals are being forced into close contact with people. It’s just sad the damage humans are causing to the environment.

Just got back from Gatlinburg last night, we had Bears in the parking lot of the hotel 4 out of 5 days. They are everywhere downtown.

A little advice…. If you have a Bear getting too close for comfort at your Cabin and Vehicle, Use your Key Fob to get it to back off so you can watch from a safe distance. Hit the lock button repeatedly first to make the horn sound, if the bear is still too close then hit the red panic button. We seldom have to use the Red panic alarm, the horn alone will make them back off. So much more effective than ruining pots and pans banging them together.

Thank you very much for this video. A few days ago I came out on our back porch and there was a young bear up on the rail. Buddy's "protecting " and the bear is swatting at him. All I could do is scream and try to convince the bear to leave. I learned a lot from that experience. I thought since the porch is about 25 to 30 ft off the ground it was safe. We never eat out there. We don't even own a grill. I guess he's been on a porch that does. I installed a new camera to cover the pilings...I have it on now when ever I'm out there. I feel very thankful and blessed that everything turned out okay.

Thank you for this video. I come to the Smokies often and have never really seen a bear up close. All content creators should make this kind of video. I hate when people refuse to follow rules that could endanger these animals. I will be sharing this video.

A much needed video to educate the tourists...great content Eric

They are trying to adapt to the changes in their natural habitat.

We had a bear, not much older than a cub below our deck, and you knew Mama had to be nearby. People in the next cabin were throwing bacon to it, and running out in the yard to take pictures. Mike and l wished for a heavy duty slingshot. People are dumb enough out at Yellowstone. We don't need wildlife put down in G burg, too. Thanks, Eric!

bear comes sneaking out of the woods in aspen Colorado , up behind a boy sitting in a red Adirondack chair eating kettle corn popcorn that the family had got from a farmers market. the boy had no idea the black bear was there until the uncle came outside and chased the bear off. the bear smelled the popcorn. Be safe and Alert . Thanks for the video of the Smokies as well.

Last Halloween eve in our Gatlinburg resort, we picked up 8 bags of candy for trick or treating in town. I got out of the car and turned a corner in our parking garage, me and a bear met face to face. He ran in the opposite direction when I was screaming to my bf to stay in the car with the bags. Thank God I wasn't holding the bags of candy!

This was a great video. I wish everyone could have known Gatlinburg back in the 1960’s. It was a beautiful place to be. Not all the commercialism and the people were much more respectful of the animals and each other in general. Gatlinburg has turned into a place that is only interested in making money. And with all the new attractions and restaurants I think the bear problem is only going to get worse. So very sad!

I think it's great you posted this to educate people who will be visiting. To be honest I can't imagine people should need to be educated. It's pretty cleat to me not to go near a wild animal. It takes common sense and most people any more are lacking that. God bless you both 😊

I am so Thankful you are Addressing this Very Important Issue. We have seen people on RU-vid feeding the bears and filming it. I called the Tennessee Wildlife center and they told me it is Not illegal to feed the bears if they are Not in the National Park. I Pray this changes so we can save the bears and humans. Thank You for Sharing

Excellent video and great information my granddaughter and I were in a close bear encounter. We slowly moved back to give her space while keeping pur eyes in contact with the bear, it went on its merry way.

Great job educating people on what to do as people. It seems like people go crazy when they see a bear especially at cades cove

Thank you for this video 👍🏻 We was going to our rental cabin, several years ago, we saw a car stopped and watch them dump food, on the ground,for a bear.😲👎🏻 We was leaving the rental cabin, we saw a couple of bears across road, feeding on berries, when we was getting in our car😲 This is very serious and people need to remember the bears are WILD ANIMALS not a pet😢 Thanks for sharing 🤗

Thanks for sharing ... everyone needs to view this.... people don't understand how dangerous it can be to be that close to a bear... at my work place...a black bear was at the front door entrance trying to get inside the building.....alot of people were getting close to take pictures and some were even wanting to pet it ...not the thing to do....😮

Eric Thank you so much for doing this I along with many others diffently want to enjoy the bears for years to come.

Excellent information! Thank you!

I work in Gatlinburg. I Love it. I talk to many of people who seen them.

People make me aggravated! Knowing they should not feed the animals, told not to feed the animals! It’s the human element that causes problems!

We saw 9 bears in 2 days

I think the bear just wanted to be the mascot for the Bearskin Lodge. Yep, don't feed the bears or get too close. I saw a guy walk way out in the field at Cades Cove to a mother and cubs and he got chased. He didn't look to brave running for his live. They say don't run, but that was the only choice he had. And for families visiting, remember to stay in a group on the trails and don't allow your kids to run ahead of you or way behind you. That very thing caused fatalities for one family. As far as I know, they don't post the death by bears in the park, like they do the deaths in the Little River.

thanks for sharing the video…

Great informative video.

Here is Massachusetts last week the schools were on lockdown because of black bears around the neighborhood. People don't understand how dangerous they can be if they get to close to them. It's very important you guys covered this issue but we all know there's still people who will try and go up to it and try to pet it.

JFC! That bear in the concession stand was no joke! Glad that woman didn’t have any serious injuries, that’s scary. Thanks for putting this video out, great information guys!

Thank you for this information. Everyone needs to view this!!

Bears have more rights than people

Scary!!

So unfortunate for these beautiful animals. I have shared your video out. I know people will do what they want but I feel that every visitor to the national park should watch a video explaining bear behavior before being able to enter the park. Thank you for sharing this video.

The state must charge feeding a bear as felony,with jail time.

Yes, brother. Preach. Humans need to chill and realize the best way to protect wildlife (both animals and plants) just leave them the smell alone.

Thank you for educating people who think it's cool to feed Bears. They must know that the Bear they feed today will be killed tomorrow because they destroyed the Bears natural fear of humans. 😢😢😢😢

I live in one of the rare, non-urban parts of the country where there are no bears. I love and am fascinated by them, but would never feel comfortable with them around, they’re unpredictable.

Years ago, my mom and I were driving through the Park and came upon a bear jam. Now this was in the 90's and bear sightings were still rather rare. There were 3 cubs, treed by all the stupid people out of their cars and within 5 feet or less of the cubs. You just know mama was just out of sight and weighing her options. I got out of that traffic and went straight to the ranger's station to report the problem. Then, as now, I couldn't abide the thought that a wild animal was going to be killed if she made a move to protect her babies. This problem has been caused by people and only people can fix it! Be safe out there and remember, the animals you see in G'burg or the National Park are WILD. Not trained, not petting zoo...

I know I will get alot of slack for the way I feel, but here goes my own personal opinion. It really breaks my heart to hear about a bear losing its life because of a human making the mistake of feeding a bear. It is not fair to the poor bear, it is the humans fault for feeding it. We are building so much that the bear's natural food supply is going away. Humans think it is so cute to see a cub and go and try to hold it, if they do, they better hope/pray the mother bear is not close by, but it attacked, the bear would be killed, again the humans fault. Yes, I am on the bear's side because the poor animals have no place to live. The poor bear will be killed because it went into the food stand, very sad, it is a animal and just is hungry. It breaks my heart to hear about a poor innocent bear being killed, oh humans say, oh just a bear, it is a innocent animal. When you go on the trails, you are in their homes, they live there, they have just come out of hibernation all winter and they are hungry. When you go into the ocean, you are in a sharks home. All animals just look for food, it is what they do, it is not their fault. I know this is my personal opinion. I can have my own opinion. I watch a bear cam in Katmai National Park in Alaska where the bears will be coming to feed on the salmon when they start arriving and you have to go to a bear school before you are even allowed on the stands. You are taught what to do when you encounter a bear, no they are not grizzlies, they are brown coastal bears. Explore.org has this channel and chats for viewers to learn about the bears and all animals have webcams to watch animals in the wild. I have learned alot about bears from watching the chats and the cams. Like I said, I am on the bears side, leave the poor innocent animals in the wild alone so they will not be killed because of a humans mistake, leave the cubs alone, if you pick them up, you will be lucky if the mother bear is not around because she does not know what your intentions are with her baby. Yes, I am a animal lover and just want to protect them.

Looks like the bears own gattlinburg😢

Where I live the summer residents feed them because they are cute but when they go back home the bears break in cottages looking for food and sometimes people are home creating a dangerous situation and most of the summer residents are lawyers,doctors and business men with zero common sense

I just left the smokey's two days ago visiting my mother. With everything that has changed, I feel they are starting to close the park down from any humans. They are Not using the money from those parking tickets to upkeep anything. I found the roads worse than I have ever experienced them.

It's sad when you have to TELL people to stay away from wild animals...it's so obvious and yet, here we are ... Gatlinburg', Pigeon Forge ECT needs to STOP building and overpopulate this town ...I've lived here 30 yrs and it's nuts ..Great job on the Video Eric and Family 😉🌄🐻🏞️

A wild animal is unpredictable

great video good job

This is an EXCELLENT and educational video. Hopefully people see this and learn that it’s not a good idea to feed the “cute bear”.

I’m going here today now I’m scared

Thank you for this information. I am very sad that these beautiful black bears have been humanized. I have backpacked and day hiked in the Smoky Mountains many, many times. It pains me that people have fed the black bears and have created situations where these bears will be euthanized if caught. I enjoy your videos and again thank you for the information.

These bears should not suffer the fate of death for a human ignorance. People in national parks all over the United States are not paying attention to the rules and all these encounters with these animals. They need to put severe laws in place that if a person feeds one of these wild animals, they will be heavily fine and serve jail time. That’s the only way to make this stop. As a former resident of Sevierville, I can’t tell you how many times I witnessed tourists wanted to get close to animals in the Smoky Mountain national Park. This needs to stop! And the only way to stop it is to make people accountable by finding them and enforcing a jail sentence!

Omg this is me!

Thank you for presenting this info, it was well done. To all that visit the area to see the bears, education about our bear population is so needed and necessary. Many factors are influencing why we as locals and tourists alike, need to respect the boundries for the safe preservation of these beautiful creatures. Remember…if you feed the bears, you have just sentenced them to death.

Thank you Eric

Health code violation! I demand to see your manager right this instant & I'm not leaving until you do!

Thanks so much for explaining the precautions about bears , the bears are in their natural habitat in the mountains and they should NOT be killed, they are beautiful animals that God created and people need to leave them alone...

I can't believe that someone was feeding the Bear.

The only reason the bear at the concession stand acted aggressively when it was leaving is that it was just as startled as the screaming young woman, which put it into fight or flight mode. It ran away as soon as she turned away from it. I hope this encounter doesn't result in the bear being euthanized!

Those bear are in the trees right next to the town. That's scary.

There is a local RU-vid channel, fairly popular that has a regular Bear visitor that he named and feeds out of a dog dish on his deck. He has several videos of Rosie visiting. So unfortunate and he ignores others concerns. I enjoy his content but not that type of content.

It's all fun till u are the snack

The problem is authorities euthanizing a bear who didn't attack anyone. Sorry but it's maddening that people report on this and fail to understand this. *There is no need to euthanize this bear* . So what if some black bears don't fear us? Black bears are not obligate carnivores. We are NOT normally prey to them. If hungry they might attack a person. But most of the attacks (which are rare) are not predatory but out of fear/protection if a mother has cubs, or for territory protection. And so why not keep the bears fed and have them be less afraid of us? (On a larger note, we are throwing away a disgusting amount of food everyday. That should be dumped in specific places for wildlife.) Also, dogs with no history of violence kill dozens of people each year in the US - any animal can be dangerous. The fear mongering about unafraid bears is ridiculous. You can see in these interactions of unafraid beats that they're not even trying to attack.

The human should be fined and jailed! Gatlinburg is an open invitation for a Smorgasbord for bears! Stop killing bears and stop enticing bears !

Do not fed or approach the bears ... we are in their homes, they are not in ours. We can share space as long as we respect and understand each other's personal space.

Poor bears! Colonial imperialist genocide continues! These bears are treated like American Indians were.

And I would add that a black bear isn't Apex predator. It is not looking at you as a friend it is looking at you as food. And if you think for one moment that those Bears will not attack you you are sadly mistaken. Someone who lives 3 miles behind Dollywood leave the Bears alone you are guests here. It is in the name! You would not like it if I went into your part of the country or world and did that in your neck of the woods be respectful of nature and its surroundings.

Bear country is literally anywhere with a bigger population of bears. 90% of Manitoba is bear country.

Fo the safety of the bear, don't discharge a firearm until the bear has attacked and is chewing on you.

I’m sure it’s not all bears ;,,,tell us the truth!!!!!Dog man and or big foot

I live here and I am WHITE HOT mad about damn idiots feeding and jacking around with bears. Its a death sentence for the bear. There needs to be either massive fines or jail for causing a bear death. Or perhaps a pillowcase full of soap bard or cans of beans.

Unfortunately, this bear was euthanized.

Tare down Gatlinburg give it back to the BEARS AND WILDLIFE.😊

Eric, I wish I could come see a bear but, since I'll never ever get the chance I'll look forward to seeing them on video. Sad that they had to euthanize the bears. Really enjoyed your video!

We've seen bears here as long as ive lived here 😂 im 30+ but yea humans need to start respecting our beautiful animals 🥰 and humans need to stop making it so that these babies end up dying as ive been saying about the sharks ( humans are the problem ) especially in the ocean and especially in Gatlinburg/pigeon forge ! I'm over the people .

I really wish they would stop killing them. Tranq it and move them far away. It's not their fault.

If towns and cities would quit building more hotels and attractions, the Bears would have more forest to roam in. But, that will never happen because greed!

do you kill the bear for

The bear should not be killed,should be relocated

The sad thing is people are taking over their territory building businesses, houses, theme parks Ect.. no wonder these poor Bears have nowhere else to freaking go give me a break and then you're going to kill them because of that!!

I blame people for the Bears actions. These are not pets, they are wild animals. Don’t feed them, yes they will come pilfering for food. But don’t engage with them, because the Bears are going to be put down and that’s not fair

TOO MANY BEARS, IMO. Not safe for children there with bears that wander EVERYWHERE!!! Tourism negative!

And don't release them in our area either we don't want bears

Dont discharge a firearm? Hahahaha

Thank you for trying to educate the many ignorant people that ruin the national parks for everyone. These are wild animals, not teddy bears. Their sense of smell is incredible so they will be drawn to restaurants and outdoor eating areas looking for food. This reminds me of the fools in Yellowstone that try to pet bison and elk. Leave the animals alone. We are visitors in their home. Respect them and enjoy them at a distance. I live in Knoxville and we are seeing more and more bears in the city. There is so much habitat loss and human encroachment, the animals are being forced into close contact with people. It’s just sad the damage humans are causing to the environment.