It was claws for a Christmas celebration.
A seemingly unfazed black bear crashed a Christmas parade route in Tennessee, becoming the star of the show in front of a crowd of onlookers, according to jaw-dropping footage and local reports.
The bear made a surprise appearance at the 50th annual Christmas parade in Gatlinburg on Friday, WBIR reported.
Videos posted to social mediacaptured stunned onlookers whipping out their phones as the mammal made the cleared road its runway, adorned with holiday lights.
Crowds on the side of the roadway — which was empty except for the wandering bear — were heard yelling as the creature calmly strutted off into a parking lot.
“Waiting on the Christmas parade and a bear came out!!!” one excited user posted.
But not all spectators were amused by the “Santa Claws” bear.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency told WVLTthat the bear caught on camera has possibly gotten used to human contact and may need to be put down if it sees humans as a source of food.
“That bear is, at some point, going to come in physical contact with a human and probably have to be epithelized for its actions, so help us keep bears wild, keep them alive, and hopefully we can enjoy seeing them in and around people with out them exhibiting any human habituation which is what you’re seeing here,” Matt Cameron, a representative of the agency told the outlet.
Bears typically flee from humans, instead seeking their attention and affection like dogs or cats, Cameron said.
The star black bear was later spotted digging through trash cans, WVLT reported.
The city has reinvested in bear-proof garbage cans and dumpsters and has encouraged residents to use them properly to keep bears away from town.
Gatlinburg is known as the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a vast swath of wilderness home to roughly 1,500 bears, according to the city.
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