A Bear Climbed a Roof and Sent a Cop Running for His Life

Quick Take

• Hollywood gets bear behavior spectacularly wrong, something a real-life rooftop chase proves exactly. See the rooftop chase →
• Bears look slow, but knowing their actual top speed changes everything about how this chase ended. Check the actual top speed →
• The men thought they had the upper hand, but the bear had a different plan entirely. See the bear's plan →

We know that when it comes down to it, bears aren’t like what we see in the movies. Hollywood has greatly exaggerated how bears behave in real life. Films often depict a bear hunting down a person for no reason and chasing them through the woods to kill them. However, the reality is that bears don’t typically chase people unless there is a reason. Bears typically only give chase when they feel threatened in some way or their cubs’ lives are in danger. Let’s see just one of these instances in the video below.

Massive Bear Chase 

The video above shows footage of a wild bear chase. As the video starts, we see several grown men on the roof of this small shed or house. They are trying to capture this bear. The men have various tools to catch the bear. We also see a policeman and a fireman who were called to the scene. 

This video picks up about halfway into the interaction, because at this point the bear has quite frankly had enough. He has decided his life is in danger, and his only hope is to use his strength to get out of it. 

The bear shocks everyone, climbs onto the roof, and runs across it, chasing all the men straight off the edge! One comment comically says, “That’s what running for your life looks like.” 

How Fast Can Bears Run?

There are eight species of bear: the American black bear, Asiatic black bear, brown bear, giant panda, polar bear, sloth bear, Andean bear, and sun bear. 

These bears are of various sizes depending on their species. For instance, the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest, weighing anywhere from 60 to 130 pounds. The largest bear is the Kodiak brown bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), weighing anywhere from 600 to 1,400 pounds. 

Just because they are large doesn’t mean that they can’t run fast. In fact, bears are remarkably speedy. Bears are known to run anywhere from 25-35 miles per hour, depending on their species. No wonder these men were trying to get out of there so fast as the bear leaped up the side of the house like it was nothing.