Mama bear with hungry cubs plops down on Tennessee road to nurse them as drivers pass

A black bear in east Tennessee is proving road trips with small children are a challenge no matter what your species.

When her three cubs got antsy this week, the mama bear stepped to the side of the road to nurse them as gawking motorists watched.

Video of the intimate family moment was shared Wednesday on Facebook by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

“When you’re on the road and the kids are hungry, you feed ‘em!” the agency wrote on Facebook.

“This is a great example of a wild, un-habituated (unaccustomed to humans) bear naturally feeding her young away from the heavily populated and more visited areas of Gatlinburg.”

Richard Watts of Gatlinburg recorded the video in the Cobbly Knob resort area, 10 miles northeast of Gatlinburg in Cocke County, the division said. The region is popular with tourists this time of year due to its proximity to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina border host a large black bear population, the division reports.

They “are normally very elusive and shy animals,” but can exhibit unpredictable behavior, the division warns. Males can grow up to 7 feet and weigh 500 pounds, the agency says.

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Mama bear with hungry cubs plops down on Tennessee road to nurse them as drivers pass."