VIDEO: Bear jumps out of elementary school dumpster, startling principal 

The principal of Zela Elementary School in West Virginia got the scare of a lifetime on Monday when he came face-to-face with a black bear while he was throwing trash in the dumpster. 

Surveillance footage uploaded to social media shows Principal James Marsh heading outside of the building towards the dumpster at the back of the school. When Marsh finishes unlocking the dumpster, a black bear pokes his head out.

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

The animal and the principal seem to lock eyes before both make a run for it in opposite directions, both in obvious fear. 

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

As the bear takes off into the wilderness behind the school, Marsh comes back into the frame, resting his hands on his knees as he begins to calm down and process the situation. 

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

Marsh had begun locking the dumpster after he noticed a bear roaming around the trash a week before the incident. He thought that locking it would prevent the bear from returning to search for food. 

“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 said. 

"It all happened so fast, and I am glad that nobody got hurt, and I can laugh about it now! For my students' and staff's safety though, I would prefer this bear find his meals elsewhere," he continued.