Watch as ‘adorable’ mama bear, cub take over NC school playground — and use the slides
A couple of playful bears showed up this week at an elementary school in western North Carolina, and they soon had a playground all to themselves.
Video of their antics — presumably a mother and her cub — shows the two were particularly taken with a series of slides at Isaac Dickson Elementary School in Asheville.
The unusual spectacle was recorded Tuesday by 5th-grade teacher Betsie Stockslager Emry, who noted the mom was surprisingly attentive to her cub.
“This made my day,” Emry wrote on Facebook. “I love how the mama goes down the big slide and quickly runs to the smaller slide — only to bear hug the little one as they make it to the bottom.”
It happened at the end of the school day and Emry says she spotted the two while leaving campus.
School officials also shared her video on Facebook, calling it a “playground take over.”
Traditional classes had been dismissed for the day, but some students were on campus participating in a “supervised homework help” program. All “were safely inside at this time,” school officials said.
“We often have bears visit: our school is in downtown Asheville, and the students are used to going into a perimeter lockdown when the families show,” Emry told McClatchy News. “The voices in the video are teachers enjoying the moment.”
North Carolina is home to black bears, which can grow to 600 pounds and have “strong claws and teeth,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Her video had gotten nearly 6,000 views and hundreds of reactions by Thursday morning. This includes some who said the bears were “cute…and a bit too close!”
Others noted the video shows human and bear parents have a lot in common.
“Nice as long as they share the equipment,” Lisa Meeks McLeod wrote on Facebook.
“This is adorable. I would let them play all they want,” Lucy Hanel Reddick says.
“You would think we built those playgrounds just for them,” Norma Friddle said.
Turtle’s daring stunt in North Carolina pond wins growing fan base on social media
Woman accused to trying to drown injured puppy in ocean is arrested, Georgia cops say
