Woman who posted viral Garden of the Gods video receives online hate, CPW squashes it

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Wildlife officials are giving a gentle reminder to keep your space from bears, after a woman's video went viral of a mama bear and her cubs strolling across the trail at Garden of the Gods.

Amy Priddy posted the video on TikTok earlier this week of her close encounter with the bears at the park. Since then, it's gotten nearly 400k views.

“We were just in complete shock, because it was a very busy day,” Amy told KRDO in a Zoom interview from her Kansas home.

She says some people commenting on her video were just as amazed as her – gushing about the incredible shots she and her husband Dylan got.

Others were not so supportive.

“There’s like so many comments on there of people calling us bad parents - just so many negative, terrible things," Amy explained.

But Amy told KRDO, they were doing exactly what park rangers told them to do at that moment.

She pointed out – you can see one of the rangers on the other side of the bears, ordering people to stay back.

“My husband actually was backing up, I don’t know if you can tell in the video, when the guy said ‘hey back up.’”

It’s easier to see in the full video they sent us.

“The mama bear actually ended up walking toward him a little bit,” Amy told us. “I think she was just trying to find a way to get past the gate.”

There was a ranger on their side, too, and they were behind her, according to Amy.

“Seeing my son in the stroller, yeah, I was like ‘oh my gosh this is nuts,’” Amy recounted. “But of course, in that moment, you don’t want to be screaming - I didn’t want to startle anybody.”

We showed the video to Parks and Wildlife officials for a verdict – is this proper bear safety?

“Can’t judge distance based on the camera, you can see it zoomed in a little bit. It seemed like they were moving back, which is the right thing to do,” CPW District Manager Wyatt Depriest analyzed. “The biggest thing is just getting big and remaining calm; don’t run away.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife told KRDO they were actually searching for a bear on Friday in a neighborhood off North Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs to no avail.

They say these recent sightings should serve as reminders to be extra cautious during the height of bear season.

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