NEED TO KNOW
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The Seattle Kraken’s mascot, Buoy the sea troll, recently had a close call while fly fishing with the team at Alaska’s Katmai National Park
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In a video captured and shared by the team’s social media, a grizzly bear could be seen briefly charging at the mascot in a stream
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Kraken center John Hayden said in the video that the bear likely went after the mascot as it was “pretty interested in his whole look”
The Seattle Kraken’s mascot got into a hairy situation with a real bear.
In a video shared on social media, the hockey team shared the close call between a wild grizzly bear and the team’s mascot, Buoy the sea troll, while the team was out fly fishing in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, according to UPI.
Kraken center John Hayden talked through the close encounter in the video, saying, “While we were fishing, we had a pretty close call with a couple [of] bears.”
The footage then cut to a shot of Hayden fishing in a stream as the camera panned to the tree cover behind him and showed a brown grizzly bear making its way out of the woods and into the stream.
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A post shared by Buoy (@nhlbuoy)
“We got a bear,” he told the camera, as another crew member said, “Oh, I got to break you off now. Hey Sam, we got a bear, we’ve got to move down.”
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Hayden could be seen handing over his fly fishing pole to a crew member as the pair and filming crew began making their way downstream. However, it appeared that the bear wanted to follow them, as he could be seen dipping into the stream and heading in their direction.
SEAbuoy/X
A grizzly bear that approached the NHL’s Kraken mascot in Alaska.
At one point, the bear could be seen spotting Buoy the sea troll, who was also fly fishing with the team. The animal let out a roar and then could be seen charging toward the mascot as he hurried to move away.
Luckily, the grizzly bear stopped a few feet away from Buoy in the water. Another angle shot of the bear charging at the Kraken players and filming crew near the end of the video showed just how close the bear got to the team before they got away.
Hayden said in the video that they “got out of it okay,” but it was quite a “close call.” He also noted that the bear likely went after the mascot as it was “pretty interested in his whole look.”
“That last little sprint, I was worried for you Buoy,” a crew member told the mascot, who could be seen shaking his head before the video ended.
“TROLL NARROWLY ESCAPES BEAR ENCOUNTER,” the team captioned the video. They added, “*no trolls or bears were hurt in the making, always respect wildlife in their natural habitat.”
SEAbuoy/X
A bear approaches Kraken mascot Buoy
In response to the video on X, one person noted that they had a similar close call with a “bull moose” while hiking on the side of a mountain. The person noted that despite getting “chased” by the animal they did not get “hurt.”
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Another person joked that the bear may have thought Buoy was a friend, writing, “If not friend, why friend shaped?”
The team had been traveling across Alaska for their annual community engagement partnership trip with the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, according to UPI. The trip also included a “Kraken Week” where the team got to work with the Anchorage Hockey Academy’s youth hockey camp, per the outlet.
Read the original article on People
