© Google MapsA skier was chased by a bear on a mountain slope in Predeal, Romania, on Saturday.
A bear was seen chasing a skier down a mountain slope in a frightening video filmed by panicked onlookers in Romania over the weekend.
The tourist was making his way down a slope in Predeal on Saturday when a brown bear was spotted hurtling down the mountain in quick pursuit.
Others watched in horror from the chairlift above, attempting to warn the skier of the danger.
"Faster, faster! Come on, the bear is chasing you! Faster! God forbid, don't look back!" some shouted, according to local newspaper Ziarul De Iasi, as translated by Google Translate.
The bear continued to charge down the slope at a frightening pace, prompting the skier to throw his backpack onto the snow in an attempt to distract the animal.
A spokesperson for the county inspectorate of gendarmerie, Ion Zaharia, praised the man's quick thinking, telling TV network Digi24 the bear became preoccupied with examining the object.
In the video, the bear stopped to take a look at the discarded bag, which allowed the skier to make his way to safety.
According to the mountain gendarmes, officials received three calls about a bear sighting that day.
Two calls were about the Clabucet resort and the third was about the slope where the chase took place. The slope was reported to be closed at the time.
Officers arrived at the scene with an all-terrain vehicle but the bear took refuge in the forest, most likely scared by the noise. Authorities in the nearby city of Bra?ov used Ro-Alert-Romania's public warning system-to notify people in the area.
It's certainly not the first time that a bear has chased an unsuspecting tourist.
A brown bear was seen jumping onto a car on a road heading toward Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in California in 2019.
The bear's sudden appearance was filmed by Taylor Hawkins, who was on her way to the national parks when her car stopped to join a line of traffic, ABC30 reported.
The bear was captured jumping onto the trunk of the car in front of Hawkins' vehicle, before jumping back down in a matter of seconds.
It was reported to have looked back at the car for a few seconds after it stopped on a grassy patch near the edge of the road.
Bear attacks that result in injuries to humans are rare, and fatal attacks even more so-averaging just over two a year in North America, according to Frank van Manen, a research wildlife biologist from the U.S. Geological Survey's Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team.
© Richard B. Levine/GettyA grizzly bear paws the snow at the Bronx Zoo in New York as a man escapes an attack at a ski slope in Predeal, Romania. Richard B. Levine/Getty
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