Hungry Minnesota bear gets a little too close for comfort with wildlife biologist

Alexander Aman captured the encounter on video.

May 2, 2023 at 10:13PM
A black bear approached the car of wildlife biologist Alexander Aman in Redby, Minn.
A black bear approached the car of wildlife biologist Alexander Aman in Redby, Minn. (Screenshot/Alexander Aman/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A black bear, possibly groggy from a long hibernation, strolled along a quiet road Monday in Redby, Minn. The bear clearly smelled something enticing in the car of Alexander Aman, who had pulled over to take a video.

"Holy schnikes," Aman said in the video as the bear climbed up and put his paws on the window, showing a patch of white fur on his chest. "No thank you."

Aman, a wildlife biologist who often takes educational videos of wildlife by drone, said he had never had such a close bear encounter before.

"Normally they'd be more skittish," he said. "But I think they wake up pretty hungry, and so they engage in a little more risky behavior."

Aman had a bag of trash in his trunk. Near the end of the video the bear seems to realize that it is, indeed, the back of the car that smells so good. After Aman stopped recording, he said the bear put his paws on the trunk and took a deep sniff. That's when Aman put it in drive and drove away as the bear wandered back into the woods.

about the writer

Greg Stanley

Reporter

Greg Stanley is an environmental reporter for the Star Tribune. He has previously covered water issues, development and politics in Florida’s Everglades and in northern Illinois.

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