Tourist attacked by bear after rolling down window to take selfie with it
Be careful who you take pictures with, folks, especially if it's a wild bear.
That's the lesson that a Scottish tourist learned when she was mauled by a wild bear after she rolled down the window of her car to take a selfie with it. While the attack didn't prove to be fatal, she still had to be brought to the emergency room to treat her injuries.
In a video shared by Scottish outlet STV News on X, 72-year-old Moira Gallacher was shown being wheeled away on a stretcher by emergency medical responders following the attack.
"What happened was the bear came up to the window at my friend’s side, and no problem. It let us take a picture and went away. But I didn’t get a proper picture, so we went back and it was at my side," Gallacher recounted.
Scottish tourist mauled by bear through car window in Romania. https://t.co/M0AI6538VQ pic.twitter.com/nL9SFzgGkS
— STV News (@STVNews) April 23, 2024
According to the news outlet, she had been vacationing in Romania with her friend Charmian Widdowson when they decided to head to the Carpathian Mountains. This was where they encountered a family of the wild animals.
"We saw these bears – a mummy bear, and a baby – they were gorgeous," Widdowson said. "But they weren’t gorgeous. The mummy bear was hungry, and thought my friend was going to be lunch."
Detailing the experience, she said that they were driving through the Transfăgărășan mountain road when they stopped to take pictures of the bears.
"I turned the car around and got off. And they were there, and I said, there’s no curve here, let’s stop and take a picture. So I went down the window to take a good picture. I thought he wanted to be friends," Widdowson shared.
"The bear came and wanted to get into the car, but he started getting into the car and bit my friend," she added.
The women believed that their conversation about food was what triggered the animal's aggression.
"My friend said, 'Let’s get something to eat. [And I said,] 'No, you are not allowed to give food. Absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing.' And I think he heard it and decided he had to eat my friend instead," Widdowson told the news station.
Despite the attack leaving her right arm feeling "sore," Gallacher regards herself as a "very lucky woman" for surviving the encounter thanks to her thick clothes.
"I was wearing a padded jacket and a top and another top – that’s what saved my arm. I’ve been very, very lucky. The shock has set in today, but everything’s ok now," she assured.
STV News reported that Romania is home to Europe’s largest population of European brown bears, wherein 6,000 of them are believed to be living in the Carpathian Mountains.