Black Bear Breaks into Mall in Shocking Video

A black bear gave shoppers and workers at an Alaska mall a wild surprise over the weekend when it wandered through the automatic doors, helped itself to a peach, and left behind one very messy goodbye.

The unexpected visitor strolled into the commissary mall at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage around 9 a.m. on Sunday, according to KTUU, citing a JBER spokesperson.

Video from inside the military base mall showed the young bear casually making its way across the shiny floor as if it had errands to run. But the animal’s laid-back shopping trip quickly sent employees scrambling.

Kory Godbout, who works at the base barber shop, said he was waiting for his first customer of the day when a coworker suddenly spotted the furry intruder.

“My coworker, who is cutting hair in front of me, she yelled, ‘Bear!’” Godbout recalled.

When he looked up from his phone, the bear was already walking straight into the barber shop.

“And we all ran into the break room and shut the door behind us,” he said.

After a few tense minutes, Godbout and his coworkers came out and followed the bear as it wandered into the commissary. That is where the hungry cub reportedly snatched a peach from the grocery store and ate it.

Some bystanders tried to scare the bear out by “going big,” Godbout said, but the animal was not finished with its bizarre mall tour.

The bear suddenly headed back toward the barber shop, forcing employees to race inside and lock the door.

“By that time, we were able to run back to the shop and then lock the door,” Godbout said.

From behind the safety of the shop window, the workers watched as the bear delivered one final shock.

“And then we were watching him from the window and then that’s when he decided to, you know, use the restroom in the hallway,” Godbout said.

The bear relieved itself right on the mall floor before eventually leaving the building.

Officers from Conservation Law Enforcement responded to the strange scene and were able to guide the animal toward a river and back into the woods, according to the JBER spokesperson.

JBER wildlife program manager Colette Brandt said in a press release that the bear had triggered the automatic doors and that the entire incident appeared to be accidental, KTUU reported.

While bear-related calls at the base have dropped since JBER installed bear-resistant dumpsters, officials said seven bears have been put down there over the past year because of public safety concerns.

Thankfully, this peach-loving intruder made it out alive — leaving mall workers with a story they will not soon forget, and one hallway that definitely needed cleaning.