A wild encounter: Bear spotted at local shopping center, customer catches it on camera

WSBTV.com News Staff
·2 min read

A bear cub was spotted at a North Fulton shopping mall over the weekend attempting to open the door of several businesses.

This happened Sunday afternoon at the Avalon shopping center in Alpharetta.

After being spotted, witness say the bear cub was hit by a car before escaping into nearby woods.

Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins spoke to the shopper who managed to capture the shocking moments on camera.

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Alpharetta Public Safety is warning shoppers and drivers to be on the lookout for bears, even in the most unlikely place like a shopping mall

A shopper captured video Sunday afternoon at the Avalon in Alpharetta of a bear cub wandering around the shopping center.

Joakima Douglas was about to walk into the movie theater when she spotted the bear cub.

“I said, I got to get video of this because no one is going to believe I saw a bear at the mall,” Douglas said.

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A shocking and surprising sight for many shoppers but not so much for the cub who appeared to know exactly where he was and where he wanted to go.

“The doors were locked?”, Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins asked Douglas.

“Yes and the way he was waiting to get in there you would have thought it was a dog waiting for it’s owner,” Douglas said.

After several failed attempts at multiple doors the bear cub gave up. That’s when he was hit by a car.

According to witnesses, the bear managed to escape, and the driver kept going but local law enforcement says this is a reminder that you don’t necessarily have to be out in the wild to experience a ‘wild-life’ situation.

“This just makes it more exciting – now I don’t know what I’m going to see at the mall,” Douglas said.

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