This is the shocking moment a black bear pins down and bites its trainer after seeing popcorn being spilt in the audience during a circus show.

Shocked spectators at the Colorful Haichao Happy World Circus in the district of Wenjiang, in Chengdu, in China’s south-western Sichuan Province, began shouting in panic when the wild animal suddenly attacked the man.

A video recorded by one of the guests shows the tamer leading the bear as it rode a hoverboard when it suddenly lost balance and tackled him out of nowhere on Sunday, 10th December.

The footage further shows how the bear tackled the man and began biting his leg, as he struggled to break free from its grip.

Seconds later, the animal can be seen grabbing his leg with its paws and refusing to let go.

At the end of the video, he finally managed to escape after pushing the bear away as two security staff rushed to help him.

The circus told local media that the incident happened after the bear saw a child from the audience spill popcorn during the performance, and wanted to eat it.

Circus bosses claimed that they have never had similar incidents in their shows, and that the bears were properly fed before the performance that day.

They added that nobody was injured during the incident.

Social media users did not hold back from commenting after the video was shared on China’s version of TikTok, Douyin, the same day.

Douyin user ‘Sarah.’ said: “It’s because the black bear wanted to eat the popcorn scattered by the children on the ground, it did not intentionally harm the keeper.”

User ‘Baizi Candy’ commented: “Say no to animal shows!”

And ‘Situ Island Xinhaige B&B’ added: “How can it not lose its temper after being treated like a monkey every day? Say no to animal performances!”