Principal startled after going face-to-face with a dumpster-diving bear

A bear-y close call.

Principal James Marsh of Zela Elementary in West Virginia was unlocking the school’s dumpster Monday morning for the cafeteria staff when a colossal black bear head came poking out, staring him directly in the face.

“Things go in [a dumpster], but you just don’t expect anything that big to come out of it,” Marsh told WASZ 3.

CCTV footage captured the moment Marsh unlocked the education and forager came face to face — both seeming to be emulating the same level of fear.

As the bear and the principal lock eyes briefly, Marsh takes off running one way, with the terrifying trash-loving black bear hopping out of the dumpster and bolting off in the opposite direction.

“I have not been that close to one, and I doubt that many people have,” Marsh told the outlet.

As the bear scurry’s off, Marsh rests his hands on his knees to ease his pumping adrenal.

“I think both of us were equally surprised,” Marsh said. “When you’re that close, they don’t seem that friendly.”

Marsh had begun locking the dumpster after noticing the black bear roaming around the trash and thought his efforts would deter the bear from returning, not making it a hibernation spot.

“I didn’t even get to open the lid. It just popped out of there like a jack-in-the box. It let out a pretty loud growl or roar actually, and that was about the most intimidating thing of the whole event,” the principal of five years said.

The clip, which quickly circulated among staff and students, made it nearly impossible for the elementary school to get back into its Monday routine, Marsh said.

“The students at the school, they wanted to see it, and I showed it to all of them. They thought it was just hilarious. I had a couple little girls tell me when you see a bear, you’re not supposed to run,” Marsh told the outlet.

The district sent out workers to modify the locks on the dumpster in hopes of avoiding any other bear scares in the future.

“We want that guy to go find his meals someplace else,” Marsh said.