Mother bear, cubs play on North Carolina school playground
A mother bear and her cubs seen playing on an elementary school playground in Asheville, North Carolina.
Even bears like to play.
A teacher in North Carolina filmed a mother bear and her cub playing on the playground equipment at the school where she works. While she says this is the first time she’s seen this happen, she thinks the bears have visited the playground before.
Betsie Stockslager Emry spoke with Fox News about the incident that occurred earlier this month at Isaac Dickson Elementary School. She filmed the bears playing on the equipment (from a safe location) and posted it to her Facebook page.
On the post, she wrote, "This made my day."
In the video, the two bears are seen climbing around the playground and going down the slides. At one point, the mother bear waits at the bottom of a slide for the cub and appears to give it a hug when it reaches the bottom.
Emry says she’s never seen the bears at the playground before, but "it doesn't appear it's the bears' first time."
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According to her, bears do come near school grounds "pretty often," and that the students have safety procedures to follow when the animals show up.
"We go into a perimeter lockdown- which just means- no students or staff outside, lock the doors," she explained. "No recess or lunch outside while we are perimeter lockdown. We had one the second day of school this year- so the kids catch on fast."
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According to her, "The students are pros at knowing what to do and how to handle our safety protocols."
Emry explained that while the students have returned to school full-time this year, they spent most of the previous year remote learning. This likely led to the bears becoming more comfortable at the playground.
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"I think being away from campus for most of the 2020/21 school year and then the summer, (the bears) definitely had the run of the property," she said.
