Children watch on in horror as bear eats family of ducklings in front of them at zoo
There's nothing like a trip to the zoo to help teach kids about animals, but one group's lesson about wildlife was a lot more gruesome than they'd bargained for.
Though death is a natural part of life, usually it's a nice idea to try and shield young children from the brutal reality of the circle of life until they're a bit older.
This usually isn't too hard, given that kids aren't very likely to encounter a predator tearing apart its prey in their back yard, but it turns out the same can't be said for the zoo.
Take a look at the not-very-kid-friendly incident below:
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On 23 April, mom and TikTok user Rachelle took her daughter and a group of her friends to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, to celebrate the young girl's birthday.
In a video shared online, the kids could be seen looking into an enclosure which housed a brown bear named Juniper, who had been taken to the zoo after being found roaming alone in Alaska.
The enclosure had logs and rocks for Juniper to climb on as well as a pool of water for her to take a dip, but it wasn't one of the features of her enclosure that caught Juniper's attention on the day the kids went to visit.
Instead, the bear was caught on camera eyeing up a mother duck and her ducklings as they swam around in the pool, seemingly unaware of the dangerous creature just a few feet away from them.
As the camera kept rolling, Juniper plunged into the water and made a beeline for the ducks, causing the onlookers to scream and hit the glass in an attempt to deter her.
Unfortunately the bear wasn't going to be stopped as she grabbed one of the little ducks between her paws and devoured it, before turning its attention to the remaining creatures.
Needless to say, it wasn't a very happy sight to witness during a birthday party.
Rachelle shared the video of the incident on TikTok alongside the caption: "A Nat Geo train wreck for my daughter’s birthday, thanks Juniper!”
Speaking to Storyful, the mom added that the group had been 'excited to see the bears being so active' before they realized Juniper 'had a snack in her sight'.
However, while the kids seemed shocked to watch nature do its thing in front of them, Rachelle made clear they weren't 'traumatized' by the incident.
Hopefully any ducks will know to stay away from Juniper's enclosure in future!
Emily Brown