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National Park Service Drops Hysterical List of Bear Safety Tips After Series of Close Encounters

With bear attacks always popping up in the news, there’s no better time for some safety tips from the National Park Service.

Although, these new tips should probably be taken a bit more graciously. Someone on the team’s social media team decided to add a little bit of humor to some typically dry tips. It sounds like a Ryan Reynold’s wanna-be got behind it all.

On Sunday, June 13, the National Park Service shared a hilarious list of “bear safety tips” on their Facebook account.

The account wrote, “If a bear clacks its teeth, sticks out its lips, huffs, woofs, or slaps the ground with its paws, it is warning you that you are too close and are making it nervous. The bear’s nervous? Heed this warning and slowly back away. ⁣What else should you do or not do if you come across a bear in Yellowstone?”

Bear Safety 101 with National Park Service

The list starts off strong warning people against the common myth of dropping to the ground and playing dead. NPS claims “bears can sense overacting.” No one likes a drama queen, even a 400-pound grizzly bear.

Although the list has some humor involved, there’s a lot of truth in the points being made. NPS reminds people to never shout, run, or make sudden movements. Another valuable lesson is to slowly put distance between yourself and the bear instead. Slow movements make for a possibly less detrimental outcome. Bears are far faster (not to mention far more vicious) and are used to chasing after prey like little elk calf.

In between it all, NPS reminds people about the true value of friendship — that is, try not to feed your friends to the wildlife. Even if they suck. It’s similar to that epic TikTok where a woman full linebacker tackles a bear climbing her fence before it can touch her dogs in the yard. It worked out for her somehow.

“Do not run up and push the bear and do not push a slower friend down…even if you feel the friendship has run its course.⁣”

It’s important to always be prepared. This means carrying around essential tools like bear spray, which should be used if the bear starts to charge.

Above all, the National Park Service is reminding us that we’re just not as cool as we think we are anymore. If climbing your tree is instinctual, reconsider because “bears can climb trees (especially if there is something up the tree that the bear wants). Also, when was the last time you climbed a tree?⁣”

A Woman Disobeys Bear Safety

Rule number one in the world of bear safety — don’t approach a wild bear. Even if you just want to take a picture — especially if that’s why.

According to USA Today, a woman approached a grizzly bear at the Yellowstone National Park, which then charged at her. She broke the park rule of staying 100 yards away at all times. Now, the National Park Service launched an investigation to find the tourist responsible. Another woman filmed the situation from her car.

There is about one bear attack each year at Yellowstone. People like this are only going to put the odds against them.