Cellphone footage captured the moment a bear wandered into traffic and high-fived a driver has gone viral.
The video, found here, was posted to TikTok last week by Rebeca Elena Gh (@ebecaelenagb), who wrote: "Chill day." So far, the video has amassed more than 10 million views and over 1 million likes.
At the beginning of the video, a trio of bears can be seen wandering along a busy road, when all of a sudden, one of the animals decides to approach a vehicle.
Without hesitating, the bear hops up onto its hind legs and extends one of its paws towards the vehicle's driver, who is also reaching out for the bear. Then, the bear attempts to touch the driver, but it moves a bit too fast and stumbles.
Once it regains its balance, however, the bear—now within inches of the driver's window—reaches out again and high-fives the driver.
The bear stares at the driver for a few moments before running back to its group, which is still blocking traffic. And finally, the video ends with the bear taking a seat on the pavement while another bear—presumably its mother—calmly approaches
Commenters were both stunned and delighted by the sweet interaction.
"WHY CAN'T THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!!!" asked one TikTok user.
"Omgggg this is precious!" exclaimed aprilathena7.
"Now that's an experience of a lifetime!" wrote gregcase01.
Zemerrrr added: "That could [have] ended terribly but it didn't so I'm happy."
Others, however, argued that the driver shouldn't have touched the bear.
"While this is cute and makes you appreciate bears, it's actually not smart as it puts the bears in potential danger down the road (not literally)," said dmorsanutto.
In response, Amanda Neilson claimed: "Agreed. I wish everyone would respect them from a distance. People don't realize that these bears being this friendly means they get put down."
As it turns out, their claims are not unfounded.
For example, a Colorado Springs bear was euthanized in June of 2020 after breaking into a resident's home. In a public statement about the incident, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) explained that bears that become "too comfortable around people can learn to open doors, destroy property or even become aggressive towards humans."
And bears that become aggressive towards humans are often euthanized.
"It's always a hard day when we have to euthanize a bear," CPW's District Wildlife Manager, Cassidy English, said at the time.
"Our mission is to protect wildlife. When bears become habituated to people, they can become a threat to public safety. This is why it is so important that our community works together to keep wildlife wild," she concluded.
Still, many commenters enjoyed the footage and loved observing each of the bears' individual reactions to the high-five.
"That bear was so confused after the high-five, he had to sit and think about life!" exclaimed Kitsumara Hana.
"Momma bear did not approve of that," wrote ayoo_travieso.
"The other baby bear looked at mom like 'mooooooooooooooooooom Jeff just touched a persoooooon,'" joked Elaine M Bradford.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Sara Santora is a Newsweek reporter based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on viral social media posts and trends. ... Read more
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