Tourist Is Mauled by Brown Bear After Rolling Down Window to Take a Selfie With It

Have you ever read a headline and immediately clicked to read more because it sounded crazy and unbelievable? People Magazine shared the story on Wednesday, April 24th about a tourist that had been mauled after trying to take a selfie with a bear. I thought for sure that it would be a young person - maybe a teenager. How wrong I was!

A Scottish tourist named Moira Gallacher, 72, was vacationing in Romania with her friend Charmian Widdowson and they decided to take a drive through the Carpathian Mountains. They saw two brown bears near the road and stopped to take photos. Moira explained how she ended up being bit by the bear in an interview shared by STV News on X (social media site formerly known as Twitter), “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.”

Moira's friend Charmain explained what happened next, "I thought he wanted to be friends,” she said. “The bear came and wanted to get into the car, but he started getting into the car and bit my friend.” The treating hospital confirmed that "a foreign patient" was being treated "on her right hand" after being bitten by a bear.

Fortunately, Moira had on a thick, padded jacket that saved her from getting more than just a bite on the hand, “I was wearing a padded jacket and a top and another top – that’s what saved my arm. I’ve been very, very lucky."

Related: Hikers Have the Most Unexpected Reaction To Seeing Bears on an Alaska Trail

Facts About Brown Bears (And How Lucky the Tourists Got)

Did you see the bear's claws in the photo that Moira snapped of it? They've got to be at least 2 or 3 inches long! What were these women thinking? They are old enough to know better. They're very lucky to be alive and unharmed, especially since these bears were just coming out of hibernation and were probably very hungry!

People Magazine also included this fact about brown bears, "They can reach speeds of 30 mph and stand at 7 feet tall." Why in the world would anybody want to get close to a bear that big and think it wanted to be friends? It's just crazy!

Brown bears are dangerous, however for the most part they avoid contact with people. Their claws can get up to 5 inches long, so even a swat could do major damage. National Geographic shared, "They can be dangerous to humans, particularly if they're surprised or if a person gets between a mother bear and her cubs."

I'm glad that this story turned out the way it did because these women could've easily been killed by the bear. Hopefully they learned from their very big mistake.

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