Black Bear Burgles Vehicle at Gatlinburg Rental Cabin

Tourists from Ohio captured a black bear bandit on video as it rifled through belongings in the back of their vehicle at a Gatlinburg rental cabin.

According to a video posted to YouTube on Aug. 16, 2016, a group of visitors had just arrived at their rental cabin in Gatlinburg and were unpacking their luggage from the back of the SUV when they encountered a bear.

The black bear was wearing a tracking collar and may be part of a nuisance bear monitoring program.

“We just got to our rental cabin, started unpacking from the back of the car when a bear stared one of us in the face,” the tourist said. “We’re from Ohio and naturally we panicked and ran inside (the biggest predator we have up here are crazy pigeons), leaving our trunk open.”

A visitor could be heard asking for the phone number to the cabin company to call for help as another considered an attempt to scare the bear off. A third visitor shot the video through the window from inside the rental cabin. The bear could be seen as it stood on its hind legs and inspected items in the back of their grey SUV, pawing luggage out onto the ground. After about a minute, the bear left. The video was titled “Bear robs car and steals Captain Crunch!” However, the video did not show the bear absconding with any loot.

Warning: Video contains profanity.