An Italian family’s mountain hike took a hair-raising turn after a brown bear followed a child down a mountain path during a day out.
The encounter took place in Trentino, northern Italy. 12-year-old Alessandro can be seen walking slowly towards his stepfather – as brown bear follows closely behind.
The boy’s stepfather can be heard trying to coax the boy to keep moving towards him, calling “come, come Ale” as they move slowly through the bushes and down the path while the bear creeps behind the boy.
Alessandro was picking up pine cones in the bushes, where the family believes the bear, which they identified as an Marsican brown bear, had been sleeping. The family believes the bear was sleeping and was disturbed by the boy as he collected the pine cones.
Eventually, the brown bear loses interest and turns away, and Alessandro can be heard asking his stepfather: “Did you take the picture?”
The family decided to share the video on Facebook once they realized what an incredible experience they had captured on camera!
Could you imagine how nerve-racking this must have been!?!