Big Ol' Bear Walks Right Into 7-Eleven Like He Owns The Place

OLYMPIC VALLEY, CA — Bear with us. Perhaps he wanted to clean up. Maybe he just wanted a Slurpee. We may never know, but one bear certainly looked as if he was up to something when he strolled right into a California 7-Eleven recently.

In a video posted to TikTok on Sunday night, Rachelle Ducusin, an employee at the 7-Eleven store in Olympic Valley, shows the bear easily opening the front door before making a stop at the hand sanitizer station.

“Oh my goodness, he knows how to open — hey, stop!” Ducusin is heard saying in the video.

What follows is nothing short of unbearable for Ducusin.

“Hey! Shh. Shh. Hey!” Ducusin yells at the four-legged intruder.

“Get out! GET OUT!” she screams before releasing a desperate wail.

Ducusin told Storyful the bear charged at her twice when she tried to keep it from going through the garbage cans outside the store. The video shows the bear digging through the dumpster outside.

Once in the store, however, the bear seems oblivious to Ducusin’s distress as he inspects the hand sanitizer station, causing it to squirt several drops onto its head. He then hops up on his back legs, possibly holding open the door for other customers — all of whom wisely decided it wasn’t a good time to buy a soda and a lottery ticket.

Emergency officials eventually showed up to stop the, ahem, panda-monium. They shot the bear with rubber bullets to make him go away, Ducusin told Storyful.

As of Tuesday morning, the video had amassed more than 8.3 million views on TikTok.

“The bear literally came in politely, held the door and sanitized. What more do you want?” one TikTok user commented.

“He opened the door with his bear hands,” another wrote.

“Y’all got some bear claws?” another quipped.

Even 7-Eleven got in on the pun game.

“Maybe he just wanted a blue raspBEARY Slurpee,” the store wrote on TikTok.

Not all human and bear encounters are so adorable.

This bear’s convenience store visit comes less than two weeks after another bear mauled a woman with stage 4 lymphoma while staying in her family’s Lake Tahoe cabin. Laurel-Rose Von Hoffman-Curzi told CBS San Francisco she’s grateful to be alive after the encounter.

In all seriousness, what should you do if a bear wanders into your 7-Eleven?

While black bear attacks are rare in California, there are general guidelines intended to help keep you safe in the event of an encounter, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

• If a bear breaks into your home, do not confront it. Most bears will quickly look for an escape route. Move away to a safe place. Do not block exit points. If the bear does not leave, get to a safe place and call 911.
• If you encounter a bear while hiking and it does not see you, back away slowly and increase your distance. Clap your hands or make noise so the bear knows you are there and will move on.
• If you encounter a bear and it sees you, do not make eye contact. Slowly back away. Do not run. Let the bear know you are not a threat, and be sure to give it a way out.
• If a bear approaches you, make yourself look bigger by lifting and waving your arms. Use noisemakers or yell at the bear.

Learn more about how to stay safe during black bear encounters.