The sun bears weren't messing around at the Hangzhou Wildlife Park in Zhejiang Province, China, this weekend.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The park is an ecological site where visitors can view animals of many kinds, including Giant pandas, Siberian Tigers, and the "4 whites" of Hangzhou. That would be White Lions, White Tigers, White Rhinos, and White Kangaroos. Also included in their selection of over 10,000 species are "sun bears," the smallest and rarest species of bear.
But don't be fooled. They might be the smallest, but sun bears can put up quite a fight when they want to. During this viral video, one of the bears at Hangzhou Wildlife attacked a staff member, and it wasn't pretty.
Initially, there are no real signs that the little black ball of fur is planning on attacking anyone - but watch for a few more seconds, and that's right when everything changes. The sun bear launches onto this innocent worker, toppling him to the ground in a nasty brawl.
This struggle between the two parties goes on for quite some time, until another staff member attempts to drag the bear away with a basketball hoop. I don't know what the angle was there, but at least the struggling bear keeper wasn't left stranded. However, the fight didn't stop until multiple people came to his rescue, pulling the furry friend off the poor guy.
I think it's safe to say that must have been a bear to handle.
Bear Keeper Claims That It Wasn't Actually a Bear Attack
After seeing the brutal attack circulate online, a lot of people had some things to say about animal rights and whether or not shows like the one at Hangzhou Wildlife should even be permitted.
However, the bear's keeper, a man named Zhou Jiazhen, claimed that the bear didn't actually feel threatened at all; he just wanted his bag of carrots. The trainer shared with the AP, "If it really wanted to attack, I wouldn't be standing here now."
However, the Hangzhou Park has gone viral for moments like this one before. Just in 2023, a video went viral of one of the sun bears standing on its hind legs for the bear seeming too "human-like." You can watch that video here.
Photo By: Getty Images
