Black bear casually joins a Maryland family forest picnic

A family vacationing in remote Maryland woodland claim to have found a real life Yogi Bear who strolled up while they were eating a picnic and decided to join them.  

In a video posted to TikTok by Kaitlyn Nesbit, a black bear can be seen perched on the edge of a picnic table waiting patiently while a man makes it a peanut butter sandwich.  

It then chows down on the sandwich straight out of the brave man’s hand as amazed onlookers shout their disbelief.

Nesbitt, 29, says she captured the moment on Thursday in Deep Creek where her family are staying in a cabin. 

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 The group began to make sandwiches for the bear who ate them out of their hands

‘This was a friend’s cabin and they said that the bear is always around and never really bothers them,’ Nesbit, a bridal store manager, told Caters. 

‘Some of our group are used to being out in the wild so we were all told to not make sudden movements and stay where we were.

‘Most of us were scared to death and filmed from the deck but the brave tested their luck.’  

The group had been enjoying its snack and a beer when the bear emerged from the trees surrounding them looking for food.  

It joined four men and a woman at one of the tables who look nervously on as the hungry creature waits to be served. 

One of the men in the group grabs a loaf of bread and points his finger at the bear, seemingly telling it to wait for the sandwich to be ready  

‘This is a f*****g joke right’, people watching from a nearby deck are heard saying as the bear settles down to watch its meal being made. 

Once ready, the man holds the sandwich in front of the bear and it slowly takes it from his hand as another person starts to make a second sandwich to have a go at feeding time.  

One of the men sitting at the far side of the table can be seen taking down the stack of beers in case the bear sets its eyes on them as well. 

One of the men tells the bear to wait, which it does, as a sandwich is made for it

The bear then allegedly ate the sandwich straight out of the man’s hands

‘Eventually the momma just walked back into the woods unharmed,’ Nesbit added. 

The group are seen taking selfies with their new dinner guest before the bear leaves as quickly as it came. 

But their actions have been harshly criticized by others on social media who warned that bears should not be fed in this manner for their own safety – and that of other humans. 

It is illegal to feed bears in Maryland as they will begin to associate people with food and become a problem or a threat for local residents. 

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources warn that food should not be kept in places where bears could gain easy access such as in tents and that canned and dried foods should be used to minimize smell so the animals will not be attracted. 

The group were told the bear is often seen in the area and to stay still so they wouldn’t be harmed while others looked on in amazement to see how comfortable the creature looked

The group took plenty of selfies before the bear disappeared, fully fed, back into the woods 

It also sternly warn people to scare black bears away if they come into a camp looking for food. 

‘DON’T FEED IT! Scare it away,’ they urge. ‘Make loud noises, bang pans, or yell.

‘Seeing bears can be very enjoyable. However, having a bear in camp can lead to problems that will persist long after you have gone home. If a problem becomes serious, your safety and the bear’s safety may become jeopardized.’

Other social media users were angry with the video, which appears to completely contradict the department’s advice. 

‘Wow these people are complete morons!,’ one Reddit user said. 

‘I planted trees for a summer in Canada and I’ve heard countless stories of bears being shot because of idiots like this. Trashy af man,’ another wrote of the video. 

‘That’s how you get a bear killed,’ one person claimed.  

DailyMail.com has reached out to Maryland Wildlife Services for comment.