Moira Gallacher, a 72-year-old from West Lothian in Scotland, wanted to take a selfie with a bear while she was traveling in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains this month. However, when she rolled down the window of the vehicle she was in to grab the shot, Gallacher got a nasty surprise.
According to a report from STV, a mother bear came up to the window and mauled her. It said she had arrived in Bucharest Sunday to visit her friend, Charmain Widdowson. As they were driving through the Carpathians near the Vidraru Dam, they spotted the mother bear with her cub.
Widdowson said they were “gorgeous,” said STV. However, she also said that the mother bear was clearly hungry. Though her friend was able to capture a photograph of the bear, her phone was lost during the attack.
Thankfully, Gallacher was wearing a thick Marks and Spencer jacket that mitigated the damage to her arm. She was expected to be discharged from the hospital Wednesday.
“I’m a very lucky woman,” she told STV news.
POLITICO reported in September that there had been a “resurgence in dangerous encounters between bears and humans over the summer,” in Romania. Some lawmakers in the country were pushing to authorize expanded bear hunting, said the outlet.
A 2019 study published in the Nature journal said that global brown bear attacks were on the rise. This spike came with an increase in human safety concerns and posed a threat to conservation efforts. Overall, researchers found 664 brown bear attacks on humans between 2000 and 2015.
“When the attacks occurred, half of the people were engaged in leisure activities and the main scenario was an encounter with a female with cubs,” the study said. “Attacks have increased significantly over time and were more frequent at high bear and low human population densities.”
In addition to an increase in brown bear attacks in recent years, selfies have also become a dangerous habit. Though that might seem strange, a study released late last year concluded that selfies should be considered a “public health problem,” per an Audacy report. That study from the University of New South Wales, Australia, found that there had been at least 379 selfie-related deaths reported since 2008. Back in 2022, Audacy reported on a man who fell into Mt. Vesuvius while trying to snap a selfie. Luckily, he survived the incident.
Here in the U.S., the National Park Service offers tips for staying safe around brown bears.
“Keeping your distance and not surprising bears are some of the most important things you can do. Most bears will avoid humans if they hear them coming,” said the service. “Pay attention to your surroundings and make a special effort to be noticeable if you are in an area with known bear activity or a good food source, such as berry bushes.”
Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles, Calif., also published tips for staying safe while taking selfies.
“Most selfie-related injuries are a result of distraction – people get so focused on taking the perfect shot that they ignore basic safety,” said the medical center.