A father and his son were out and about on Monte Peller in the Italian Alps when the two met a brown bear. The father, in particular, was seriously injured in an argument with the animal. Both people had to go to the hospital.
Two men, aged 28 and 59, were surprised by a brown bear, according to Italian news agencies. According to the reports, the bear buried the 28-year-old among himself, whereupon the person concerned hurried to help.
During the father's argument with the bear, the 59-year-old suffered broken bones in the leg and deep wounds, but was not critically injured.
Encounter with a bear in mid-May
Almost four weeks ago, a family in South Tyrol was surprised by a brown bear. The father published the scene on Twitter.
A voi il mio incontro con @ 'orso di sta mattina sopra la malga Sporminore ... pic.twitter.com/VN6QmAV9oV
- Loris Calliari (@loriscalliari) May 24, 2020
Encounter with a bear: rules of conduct
An encounter is fundamentally unlikely, because a bear is naturally shy and generally avoids people. In the event of an encounter (less than 100 meters away) with a bear, it is primarily important to keep calm. The following rules of conduct must also be observed (source WWF Germany).
- Keep calm: The bear doesn't know what you're doing either. So there is a kind of dialogue between you and the bear. You have to show him that you are not an attacker, so let him have his territory. At the same time, they are not prey either.
- Stand still and draw the bear's attention to you by speaking loudly and moving your arms. Don't shout at the bear, however.
- Don't run away!
- When the bear stands up, it is not aggressively motivated behavior, it only provides a better overview of the situation. This is a good time to draw attention to yourself.
- Avoid taking a bear photo for your safety. Never approach the bear, do not make any jerky movements.
- If the distance is below 10 to 20 meters, the bear could consider it a threat and cause it to behave aggressively and attack.
- Avoid anything that the bear might perceive as a threat. Don't throw stones or sticks, and don't try to scare the bear away with threatening gestures or screams.
- Report all observations to the gamekeeper or park rangers.
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Credits: Cover picture Frank Liebig / CC BY-SA 3.0 de