A tourist in Romania remained remarkably still as a bear cub approached and bit his leg on the Transfăgărășan Highway, a scenic route in the Romanian mountains. The incident, captured on video from a nearby car, shows the man standing on the road as the cub emerges from bushes.
The bear cub initially sniffs the man before biting at his leg. The tourist's immobility continued until a car drove towards the cub, attempting to scare it away. However, the bear, seemingly unfazed, suddenly lunged at the man, prompting him to flee to his vehicle unharmed.
The video has circulated widely on social media, sparking various reactions. Some viewers questioned whether the man, who appeared to be on his phone, was too distracted to notice the bear, with one commenter jokingly describing his survival instinct as that of a 'potato.' Others commended his composure, suggesting that remaining still prevented provoking a more aggressive response.
'If he had moved, the bear would have run after him. He tried to stay completely still. If he had run, the bear would have chased him and might have attacked him. He acted smartly,' one social media user commented.
Conversely, some criticized the occupants of the filming vehicle for not intervening sooner to alert the man or deter the bear.
This event follows a similar incident in June, where a Bulgarian tourist, Georgi Bizhev, sustained serious injuries after being mauled by a bear in Romania's Carpathian mountains. Bizhev had stopped his car near the Vidraru Dam to observe and photograph a mother bear and her cub. While tossing food scraps, the mother bear attacked, lunging into his car window and clawing and biting his left arm as he attempted to shield his face. He reported that a seatbelt helped mitigate further injury, and other drivers honking and shouting eventually scared the animal away.
Romanian emergency services responded to the earlier incident. Officials noted that the mother bear was likely protecting her cub. The Transfăgărășan Highway is known as a 'bear pass,' a location where tourists frequently stop to view and feed wildlife. Bizhev acknowledged that feeding bears is inappropriate and that he had entered the animal's environment.
Romanian authorities continue to advise tourists against approaching or feeding bears, emphasizing that while protected, the animals have become increasingly habituated to human presence across the country.