Woman was focused on freeing her trapped dog that she didn't notice the grizzly closing in on them in her own camera footage

During an emergency, people tend to act on instinct rather than observing the risks around them. Jay (@username22222341) went viral on TikTok after sharing a clip of her hiking with her boyfriend, mother, and her dog, Desna. Her dog had gotten stuck after he went chasing something. When Jay got to where Desna was, she playfully chided her dog until she realized something was staring at her from a distance. She screamed, calling for her mother and boyfriend, who, thankfully, came to her rescue and freed their dog. The video has racked up over 12 million views on Instagram. 

The wild interaction

Jay was lightheartedly scolding Desna for running away from her and chasing something into the enclosure. She got stuck because her leash was tangled in some broken branches. Since she could not free herself, she waited patiently for Jay to help. All this time, Jay did not notice another animal standing nearby. A few seconds after trying to free Desna, she noticed a bear looking directly at her. It was neither charging nor retreating from the location. The moment Jay spotted it, she called her mother and boyfriend to help, and made roaring sounds to scare the bear away. In the end, they managed to free Desna and hike back down. 

Bear vs. humans

It wasn't clear whether Jay encountered a black bear or a grizzly bear, but they were lucky it did not attack them or Desna. A survey of state wildlife agencies (cited on NBC News found there were more than 15,000 black bear run-ins in 2008 in states east of the Mississippi River. In 2025, Stake conducted a survey (as cited on  FOX 5) asking people if they thought they could defeat a grizzly bear without any weapons, and only 2.75% of Americans said yes. Similarly, back in 2024, a YouGov poll found that only 6% of Americans were convinced they could fight a grizzly bear unarmed. Luckily for Jay and her family, they did not have to fight the black or grizzly bear they encountered on their hike.

A near escape

Meanwhile, the comment section was a mix of people who spotted the bear first thing in the video and those who actually had to look for it. @itsjustmercy_ wrote, "Girl, that was the first thing I saw, and I panicked for you. But I live in Australia, we are trained to look everywhere." @she_hates_yall added, "Girl, let’s start paying attention to our surroundings, and I’m not even saying that to you. I’m saying that to myself, too, because I didn’t even notice it until I looked at the comment."

You can follow Jay (@username22222341) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.

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