A Black Bear Chugging Iced Tea Is the Most Canadian Video on the Internet
In Fort Hope First Nation, Ontario, a black bear was caught on video working a bottle of Brisk Iced Tea at the local dump. Filmed by Shayna Kyla in July 2025, the scene shows the bear pawing at the plastic, wrestling with the cap, and finally tipping the drink back like it had done it before. Kyla’s reaction—half shock, half laughter—underscored how strange and oddly relatable the moment felt.
When the clip hit social media, the response was immediate. Viewers praised the bear’s persistence, called it “brilliant” and “hilarious,” and passed it along until it went viral.
Black Bears and the Sugar Fix
@ctvnews Northern Ont. black bear chugs a refreshing ice tea An amateur video of a black bear drinking a bottle of iced tea at Fort Hope First Nation’s landfill has racked up more than 795,000 views. The bear struggles with the bottle before chugging it, amusing online viewers. #news #ctvnews #bear ♬ original sound – CTVNews
If you are curious about why a bear would guzzle iced tea like a college kid after a workout, the explanation is simple: sugar equals survival. Black bears are opportunistic eaters, which means they’ll consume whatever packs calories. In the wild, they eat berries, roots, and insects, but a landfill is like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
A 16-ounce bottle of iced tea contains around 20–30 grams of sugar, which is similar to or slightly more than a single cup of wild blueberries. For a bear prepping for hibernation, that quick hit of concentrated sugar is an easy calorie boost, even if it doesn’t outweigh what they could find in a whole patch of fruit.
The downside is that habits like this create bigger issues for humans and wildlife alike. Once bears connect human garbage or drinks with easy calories, they lose their natural caution. That’s why conservation groups and local officials push so hard for better waste management in remote towns.
Snack Time in the Wild
The iced tea bear isn’t the only one to score a human treat. In Alaska, two bears raided a Krispy Kreme van and made off with boxes of donuts. On TikTok, outdoorsman @stevenson_t shared clips of a black bear cub stealing sips of his morning coffee right on his porch. The cub returned for more while its mother stood nearby, clearly unbothered. According to Stevenson, she’s been introducing her litters to him for years, which explains the strangely calm behavior.
Viewers were quick to note that encounters like these are far less risky with black bears than with brown bears. Black bears, while still dangerous, often retreat when startled, while brown bears, including grizzlies, are more likely to defend themselves aggressively.
Watching a bear drink iced tea or sip coffee blurs the line between the wild and everyday life. It’s surprisingly funny, and it shows just how adaptable black bears can be when human food is around.
For people living in rural areas, it’s a reminder to keep trash and food locked up. For everyone else, it’s one of those rare internet clips that feels too odd to believe. The Fort Hope bear may never know it became a viral sensation, but that iced tea break carved out its spot in Canadian internet lore.