Bear pops out of dumpster, shocks woman tossing trash. 'I hope he don't come running!'

A North Carolina woman recently got a great fright when she unexpectedly came face to face with a bear. But she also got a video to remember the moment.

Darlene Largent is an Asheville native and no stranger to the region’s wildlife. She even saw a bear cub earlier in the day on July 15 on her way to clean a house in Asheville.

None of that prepared her for the shock of a bear popping out of a dumpster that afternoon.

Largent needed to throw away a bag of trash while cleaning the home on Town Mountain Road, and she saw a dumpster in the back yard. She walked toward the dumpster from the garage — and “a bear popped up.”

“I said, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ and ran back to the house. ‘I hope he don’t come running!’ “ the 59-year-old Harrisville resident told The State. “I was shaking, excited and everything all at the same time.”

After she regained her composure inside the house, Largent realized the bear was not interested in following her. It was looking for something to eat as it was scrounging through the dumpster.

She realized this was an opportunity: Largent admitted that she had wished to see a bear, after hearing reports of sightings in that area. That include accounts from her son, who had recently painted the house and said he had seen “a few bears up there.”

So Largent went back outside, and from a safe distance to an open door, recorded video of the bear dumpster diving for food.

“I had to be cautious, but wanted to get a good video,” said Largent, who after overcoming her initial shock described the encounter as “a fun, good experience.”

She can be heard on the video calling for the bear’s attention, but it continued to ignore her.

Largent told The State that the bear worked its way from one end of the dumpster to the other before finding a bag of trash. With a prize in its possession, the bear made its way out of the dumpster and to under a nearby tree, where Largent said it enjoyed a meal in the shade.

“He ate it and went on down the road,” Largent said.

Earlier in the day, as she was driving to the house, she saw a bear cub rummaging through an unlocked trash can. Largent said seeing bears going through trash is sad because it’s a sign of humans encroaching on their habitats.

Even with previous bear sightings, she wasn’t prepared for the up-close encounter at the dumpster: “It’s the closest I’ve ever come to a bear. It was pretty awesome,” Largent said.

This story was originally published July 22, 2018 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Bear pops out of dumpster, shocks woman tossing trash. 'I hope he don't come running!'."