Tennessee Officials Warn Public After People Get 'Dangerously Close' to Bear

People were recorded approaching a bear in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on September 3, which prompted state wildlife officials to urge the public to back away from wild animals.

Footage recorded by Dean Schapiro shows a black bear wandering along the steps of the Gatlinburg Convention Center, as other onlookers proceed to get “dangerously close” to the animal.

“She’s gonna run right in its path,” Schapiro says in the video, as a woman is seen approaching the bear for a closer look.

Matt Cameron, a spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, said that “some of the people in the video were dangerously close,” local news reported.

“When they started approaching it and chasing it with the camera and all that, it really put them in a dangerous situation,” Cameron said. “Just back away and give it a clear escape route.”

Schapiro told Storyful he initially recorded the video out of amazement, but later felt sympathetic toward the animal, as he said they have “no other place to go.”

The animal managed to run away from the scene, Schapiro said. Credit: Dean Schapiro via Storyful

Video transcript

[CHATTER]

- No. Back up.

- Where you going, Chris? Smells like you got to take [MUTED].

Watch out, Chris.

- 50 bucks whoever wants to pet him.

- It's famous.

- Where the hell did he come from?

- She going to run right in his path.

[CHATTER]

- Scary.

- Yeah. They will bite you. But we'll let you pet him.

- I want to. Yeah.

[CHATTER]

- He start running, and we running.