On June 20, 2021, a video appeared on the TikTok video platform that showed quite the scare. While staying with family in a vacation home in Lake Tahoe, California, the man recording the video opened the doorknob to go to the garage, only to find three bear cubs and a mama bear.
The video was recorded on June 19 and was viewed around 2 million times in 24 hours.
The encounter with the mama bear and her cubs might remind some readers of the viral video that showed a woman pushing a bear off her fence. Snopes.com was the first website to report on the viral video in the late hours of Memorial Day.
We contacted the creator of the Lake Tahoe garage video for more information on the story.
The Viral Video
The video's caption read: "Left the garage open for like 5 minutes. My brother found baby bears going through our stuff and mama bear charged him." It was hashtagged with "#bearscare."
In the comments, @sweetbunnytea, the man's sister and the person who uploaded the video, said: "[We] heard cans falling in the garage and thought maybe someone came home. But it was just some curious bears who broke water bottles and drank from them."
After opening the door and noticing the three bear cubs, the mama bear charged through the garage toward @sweetbunnytea's brother. Closing the door seemed to do the trick for the time being. According to comments, the mama bear did not attempt to break down the door.
Getting the Bears To Leave
In order to get the bears out of the garage and off their property, @sweetbunnytea said: "My brother yelled loud from the front door and then ran back and banged on the garage door and they ran away."
One commenter mentioned that a fire extinguisher might help if the bear got inside the house. In response, @sweetbunnytea said: "I thought about that too if she tried to break the door lol."
Another person mentioned that it was a grizzly bear. However, this was not true, as the last known grizzly bear in Calfornia was believed to have died in the 1920s.
The Original Audio
The first video uploaded by @sweetbunnytea had a song, but she later posted the original sound that was recorded during the incident.
The mama bear could be heard growling fiercely as she charged at the man.
A TikTok commenter remarked: "We were all expecting a scream or yelp or something." In response, @sweetbunnytea said of her brother: "Nope balls of steel on that man lol."
Other versions of the video showing the mama bear charging the man were posted with the "Oh No" song, the popular "Run" music, Dr. Phil, and others.
We will update this story if we receive more information. Bear with us.