A polar bear in the San Diego Zoo was seen preying on a duck which was swimming calmly in the pool. The incident, which was caught on camera by an onlooker, left a number of young visitors horrified, while others enjoyed the natural food cycle.

The incident took place June 5, in which the predator could be seen approaching the duck from behind. The bear remained out of sight, swimming underwater till it was close enough to its feathery prey. It then jumped up from the water and pounced on the duck, biting its neck with its jaws.

“Oh, he’s gonna get him, oh! He got him, [laughs] the duck didn’t make it. That’s a good bear…” a man could be heard in the video, saying in background as he squealed in delight. Horrified screams of children could also be heard.

The duck could be seen trying to flap its wings in vain as the bear gripped it tightly with its paws. It finally swam away with the duck in its mouth, biting and eating it. “That was cool! That’s why the ducky don’t come home. He is lovin’ on him and chewin’ on him, huh?” the man added.

The video posted by Amy McBride, one of the visitors who witnessed the incident, garnered over 200,000 hits on YouTube. She told NBC San Diego that her 3-year-old daughter got angry at the polar bear after it attacked the duck. “He ate the ducky!” McBride said her child yelled.

Although polar bears mainly eat ringed seals (abundantly found in the Arctic region), beached whales, caribou, and seaweed, they are fed dog kibble, fish, and root veggies at the San Diego Zoo.

polar bear
A polar bear eats a pumpkin during Halloween celebration in the Tiergarten Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna Oct. 31, 2014. Reuters/Leonhard Foeger
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