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NORTH CAROLINA — Imagine you live an area that's crawling with bears. You put a fence around your yard to keep them out, but the bears just climb over it. You install motion-activated lights on the house, but the bears actually seem to be drawn to them. You try noisemakers, but it just seems like you're celebrating the bear invaders.
In desperation, you finally put a scarecrow in the yard. They tear it to shreds.
What else is there to do? If you're this family in Asheville, North Carolina, you take a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach. Check out this video.
I don't think it's very safe to approach a bear, but I guess if you're going to do it, you might as well be in the protective confines of a grizzly costume. It's almost like the land-based equivalent of a chainmail shark suit.
My hunch is that this bear realized the approaching creature wasn't a grizzly. But it's got to be a startling realization that rather than a long-lost cousin ambling over to say hello, you're looking at a reckless human in a bizarre costume.
No wonder the bear took off running.
