Startling moment bear jumps on table and gatecrashes family’s picnic

A shocking video captures the moment a bear jumps onto a table outside and starts stealing a family's picnic.

In the shocking video, a family are seen enjoying a picnic at the Chipinque Ecological Park in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, Mexico, when a hungry black bear appears and jumps onto the table to eat their food.

The terrified family could do nothing but watch as it polished off their lunch, seeing as they didn't have the chance to move away from the bear when it arrived. This means that all they could do was sit as still and calm as possible and hope that the bear would remain preoccupied with the food.

Fortunately on this occasion, the bear finished the food and then left without hurting anybody.

Mum Silvia Macías was sat at the table and covered her son Santiago's eyes while the bear got very close.

She said: "Santiago is very afraid of animals, a cat or a dog, any animal scares him a lot. I didn't want him to see it and scream or run. I was afraid that if he got scared or screamed, (it would) scare the bear."

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She added: "I just think I'm a mother who protected her cub."

Footage of the incident has been posted on TikTok, where it has received some six million views.

The Autonomous University of Nuevo León carried out a study which indicated that there are at least 38 black bears living in the area.

Mexico's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources recognizes black bears as an endangered species due to urbanisation creeping into its natural habitat.

Officials at Chipinque Ecological Park post warnings on how to act if you encounter a bear, which includes not approaching them and keeping food away form them if possible and not leaving trash.

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The US National Parks Service issues advice for what to do if you find yourself in a bear encounter.

This includes identifying yourself so the bear isn't surprised by you, as well as staying calm and talking to the bear in low tones - but never imitate the noises a bear makes.

Other bits of advice include picking up small children and not screaming or crying, as the bear could mistake this for noises made by prey.

Another piece of advice is to not run, as bears will chase anything that runs away including humans, and are a lot faster than us. You should also make sure that the bear always has a route to move away from you.