How many encounters with wildlife have you had? How many were dangerous? Not many people would know how to handle themselves in a difficult encounter with a predator animal like a mountain lion, wolf or
in this case… a Bear.
What is really amazing is that in this case, the person handling the close encounter with the bear was
A twelve-year-old boy!
During a hike with his family, Alessandro Breda began
being shadowed by a bear.
The bear was clearly aware of the boy and watching his every move with curiosity. While this is of course a deeply intimidating situation, the bear was showing no signs of aggression.
The wrong move could have changed that.
Lucky for Alessandro and his family, Alessandro knew exactly what to do thanks to a video he had watched about what to do if you encounter a bear in the wild!
“I’d learned that if you yell, the bear becomes agitated and becomes much more aggressive”
Thanks to Alessandro keeping his cool, the bear remained calm. Considering the bear was most likely a cub, this is really the ideal scenario.
Cubs on their own may not present too much of a danger, but of the three maulings that occured in the Dolomites since 2014, all of the cases involved mother bears defending their cubs who they perceived to be under threat.
According to the scientific director of the Italian World Wildlife Fund, Marco Galaverni, the boy likely wasn’t in any real danger.
“When a bear is feeling aggressive, it makes that pretty clear […] You’re much more likely to be attacked by a neighbor’s dog.”
These encounters with bears are pretty rare in the Dolomites to begin with, with fewer than one hundred bears being recorded within the area!
The bear even remained calm when Allesandro nearly broke. Not because of the bear on his heels, but because of his grandmother below who had noticed the bear and was trying to help by making noise and seeming large!
In the video, Alessandro begins whisper-shouting for her to stop, no doubt worried that the bear may not take as kindly to her loud voice.
However, according to Alessandro’s father who had been recording the incident, Alessandro had been completely unphased by the bear and was eager to go for more hikes!
He is even heard in the video asking his dad for a photo!
Now that’s a brave kid! I think if I encountered a bear that closely I definitely wouldn’t handle it nearly so well and I would probably take a good little break from nature for a while after that.
It’s weird to think about being taught as a kid to try and make as much noise as you can and make yourself seem big in whatever way you can. (Holding up your canoe paddles was usually a pretty good way of doing it.) Now, we understand it’s the polar (no pun intended) opposite!
The video itself is worth a watch to see Alessandro handle himself like a pro, and because the song in the video actually slaps.
You can check it out below!
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