NC woman says bear sniffed, licked her while she did yoga

Thursday, June 2, 2016
LAKE JAMES, NC (WTVD) -- A Lake James woman says she got the fright of her life when a bear came up and sniffed and then licked her while she was doing yoga out on her lawn.

Kristen Jones told WSOC-TV she was facing the lake with earphones in when she felt something sniff at her neck and then lick the bottom part of her ear.
[Ads /]
She thought it was just the neighbor's dog and reached out to pet it. That's when she turned and realized it was a black bear.

"I stumbled backwards into the water and he ran up the hill. So much for finally being off blood pressure medicine...." she wrote on Facebook.


Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.