A wildlife enthusiast had fans laughing after spending days searching for a rare animal, only for it to charge at him.
Cookie, known for his YouTube channel “Wildlife with Cookie”, regularly shares his adventures tracking animals in unusual places. Recently, he dedicated time to finding some of the rarest creatures in the UK.
One of these creatures was the capercaillie, a large, turkey-sized bird found in Scotland’s forests. The species is critically endangered, with only around 500 remaining in the wild.
After a week of searching, Cookie finally spotted one. However, the encounter didn’t go quite as planned. In a video that has garnered more than 78,000 likes, the bird is seen emerging from the bushes. “Oh my God, that is massive,” Cookie exclaimed.
It soon became clear the bird was not pleased with Cookie’s presence. As he started to back away, the capercaillie charged at him. Laughing nervously, Cookie remarked, “He’s displaying at me. He’s angry.”
TikTok users found the moment hilarious, flooding the comments with jokes and praise. One user compared it to “finding a shiny Pokémon,” while another wrote: “I love how excited you get! It’s so heartwarming.”
Another commenter added: “Congrats bro, this is the first vid of a wild capercaillie that wasn’t on National Geographic I’ve ever seen.” A fourth joked: “Is it just me who was expecting his mate to come out of the bushes dressed up as a bear?”
Cookie’s complete quest to find the UK’s most elusive creatures can now be viewed on his YouTube channel.
This comes after an emergency plan was launched to save Scotland’s capercaillies from extinction this week. A new report by NatureScot has identified key areas to improve the capercaillie’s survival chances, including by tackling human disturbance and predation of the young. Key to the plan is delivering on the target to plant at least 35,000 hectares of new woodland cover in Cairngorms National Park to improve and increase capercaillie habitat.