Mama Bear and Cub Enjoy Slides at School Playground in North Carolina

A mother bear and her cub brought delight to the staff at an elementary school in Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, September 21, as they played together at a playground on the school’s grounds.

Fifth-grade teacher Betsie Stockslager captured this video of the bears as they played at Isaac Dickson Elementary School. “Y’all – seriously! This happened today,” Stockslager wrote on Instagram. “It made me so happy to watch this mama bear entertaining her cub and playing on our playground…this was after school, ya know – that time in the afternoon when you just have to take your kid to the playground to get their energy out!” she added.

Speaking to Storyful, Stockslager said: “We often have bears on campus and our students are very used to the safety protocols in place. We go into perimeter lockdown when the bears show up and we’re lucky to safely capture this moment.”

Another teacher, Nancy Roberts Culpepper, said the teachers watched the bears “for about 30 minutes because they were so cute!” Credit: Elizabeth Stockslager via Storyful