00:00 This video was recently captured in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee,
00:04 and it was taken by this experienced hiker and tour operator Megan,
00:08 who was asked to only be identified by her first name.
00:11 She says this black bear began to follow her on the last two miles of an eight-mile hike,
00:16 staying on her heels for a disconcerting 30 minutes.
00:19 She says she tried every tactic to get it to go away,
00:22 standing her ground and raising her arms and yelling.
00:29 But the bear just kept coming.
00:31 She says she was eventually able to lose the bear by throwing some trail mix she had left in her bag,
00:36 distracting it while she ran.
00:37 That's when she got off the trail and called the authorities,
00:40 as the animal could be a threat to other hikers.
00:42 When they eventually arrived and she met them on the trail, the bear was still there.
00:46 The group attempted to shout and scare the black bear away,
00:49 but it did not leave the trail.
00:51 In fact, it even began to move towards them.
00:53 That's when they were forced to shoot it with a paintball gun,
00:56 just to scare the animal away.
00:57 One of the rescuers was a wildlife specialist who said that the bear was conditioned to behave this way,
01:02 with hikers probably giving it food at some point.
01:05 Adding, "Tourists come and they leave food around,
01:07 and the bears start to see people as a source of that food."
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