A video of a Sooke man’s polite encounter with a family of black bears on his property has gone viral, with many praising his perfectly Canadian response.
When Jordan Cote heard his tenant’s dog barking outside on Monday, he walked out onto his deck to find a black bear with two young cubs just metres away.
“I didn’t even realize what was going on until I walked around the corner and the two cubs were attached to the mama bear’s leg,” he said. “[The dog] didn’t leave the deck area and the bears never approached her. They kept their distance.”
Cote took the dog inside and then returned to film the bears, who noticed him but didn’t seem to care much.
But the 23-year-old had to be at work shortly and didn’t want the bears wandering his yard without him there – so he calmly asked them to leave.
“I need you guys to go,” he’s heard saying in the video.
Surprisingly the mother bear obliged the request, ushering her cubs off the property as Cote speaks softly to them.
“Thank you,” he says as they turn tail. “Hope you enjoyed my yard, have a good day!”
Cote, who’s lived on the rural property for two years, said he’s never seen bears in his yard before and he was shocked at how calm the mother remained.
“The whole encounter is so casual. I’m like, this is Canada,” he said. “If you remain calm, the bear remains calm. We all can co-exist.”
He posted video of the incident to a local Facebook group days later where it’s seen a huge response with more than 1,200 shares and hundreds of reactions.
Many credited Cote for filming the encounter in a respectful way.
“This is awesome because the guy realized the bears were just passing through and there was no need to call a conservation officer to shoot them,” one woman wrote. “I wish everyone could just chill and leave the bears alone so they can go on their way.”
Cote said he’s just grateful he was able to share the moment with others, and he hopes he can come across an encounter like this again.
