Watch man ward off cookie-stealing bear with shovel after tense standoff on California beach

A group of California beachgoers had an unusually exciting afternoon when an intrusion by a bear led to a standoff.

The encounter occurred at Pope Beach in South Lake Tahoe where families were enjoying a day in the sand.

Derek Sears, 18, told wire service Southwest News he and his friends were hanging out in the picnic area when a large and rather bold brown bear approached. Sears said he wasn't necessarily surprised to see the animal, as bear encounters in the area are fairly common. Instead of panicking, he decided to pull out his camera.

"I actually saw two bears going through a dumpster last night," he told the news service. "So I just stepped out of its way and thought it would make a cool video."

In the clip, the bear can be seen making a B-line past a picnic table and over to a setup where a blue cooler is sitting in the sand. Seemingly completely unphased by the presence of people, the bear, which appears to be wearing a tracking collar, adeptly uses its large paws to knock the cooler over and pull the lid open.

Watch:Mischievous bear breaks into classroom and nearly steals the teacher's lunch

As it rummages through the treat treasure trove, Sears attempts to scare it off by throwing a plastic chair in its direction. Unfortunately for the owner of the food inside the cooler, however, the bear paid no mind to the chair or shouts of bystanders trying to shoo it away.

"He took my cookie!" Sears can be heard saying as the bear grabs something from the cooler and runs further down the beach with its ill-gotten gains. "Bro, I want my cookie back!" he yells, showing the now emptied and turned-over cooler.

The bear pauses a few feet away, seemingly to wolf down the snacks it stole, when an unnamed man approaches it with a shovel. Again attempting to scare the intruder off with some loud noise, he first beats the sand near the bear and then a picnic table with the tool.

As unflinching as ever, the bear does a quick scan of another picnic table before circling around the man who begins hitting nearby trees with the shovel. Instead of running off, the animal assumes what appears to be a stand-off stance, staring his opponent down before taking a few steps toward the man.

"Bro is fighting a bear!" Sears exclaims.

Luckily for the shovel-wielding man, he lands a quick hit right on the bear's snout, sending it scurrying off into the nearby woods.

"Oh my gosh! He just fought a bear, dude," Sears continues.

"Living in Northern California, encountering bears is a normal thing," Sears later told Southwest News. "I was very surprised when the man hit the bear on the head with the shovel."

No one was hurt as a result of the incident, but it is a prime example of the importance of keeping that food and drink locked up tight in bear country, lest you end up losing your cookies.