COOKE CITY, Montana (KRON/CNN) — This is one vacation they’ll not soon forget. A Montana family faces a grizzly bear on their way back from Yellowstone National Park.
The bear climbed onto the family’s car, and it was all caught on video.
David Peters said his family was observing several bears grazing on the grass across the street. “Then one of the bears decided to check out one of the cars across the street. Then he dropped down and bee-lined for our vehicle”
Peters says he was outside of the car when the bear approached. He was standing behind the car and as the bear came up, he snuck around the side and managed to get in the back seat of the vehicle.
“I was kind of playing this which way is he going with the bears,” Peters said. “It’s five seconds of inattention that was really not good. It could have been disastrous if that bear had come straight for me instead of the front of the car like he did.”
Peters said the bear wasn’t showing any signs of aggression, just curiosity.
The family is heard on the video laughing while the bear inspects the vehicle, first climbing on the hood and pawing the windshield before moving around to the windows.
“Where’d he go? He’s coming up the window,” a woman said. “Oh my gosh, I’m so scared.”
“He smells the beef jerky,” a boy in the car said.
Eventually, the bear decided to leave the car alone and goes back toward the woods.
No one was hurt during the encounter, but the car sustained a few scratches and muddy prints from the bear’s claws.