Black Bear Knocks Out a Santa Claus
The bear was caught on camera taking down the lawn decoration
— -- A wild bear in California knocked out a Santa Claus and it was all caught on camera.
Christmas presents will still be delivered this year, however, because the KO-ed Santa Claus was a lawn ornament set up by a wildlife photographer.
Robert Martinez set up the decorative Santa Claus in a pocket of the Angeles National Forest, near Glendora, Calif.
Martinez says he began setting up cameras in the mountains around Glendora about three years ago in an attempt to capture a mountain lion on camera. When it worked, Martinez continued to add cameras in order to capture more wildlife footage, including the funny Santa incident that happened Dec. 15.
“When I first saw this video I laughed out loud and was also surprised that a bear had come by this camera spot,” Martinez told ABC News. “I was really happy when the bear gave Santa so much attention and then knocked him out.”
“This spot is frequented by mountain lions, bears and foxes on a regular basis,” he said.
Martinez, who now has 10 cameras in total throughout the mountain area, says the Santa Claus prop was all in good holiday fun.
“I put up the Santa Claus because the holidays were approaching and I thought it would be interesting and funny to see how the animals might react to it,” Martinez said. “In October, I also put up some Halloween decorations at another camera spot, and female mountain lion walked right in between them without a care in the world.”
Martinez, who posts the videos on his YouTube channel, says the footage he has captured has “far surpassed" his expectations.