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A ferocious bear was seen trying to rip a tourist who tried to feed the beast out of a car in a vicious attack that left the man with serious wounds, according to shocking new video.
The point-of-view clip shows the driver, Bulgaria native Georgi Bizhev, stop his car right beside the mother bear and a tiny cub to feed them while driving through Romania’s notorious “bear pass” last week.
The bear suddenly charges at his car on its two hind legs, smashes through a window and thrusts a paw in the car as Bizhev and a passenger scream, according to the terrifying footage obtained by Jam Press.
“I entered its environment, it was a mistake for which I paid,” Bizhev said.
The bear attacked the vacationer after he tried to feed it. JamPressAnother video from the car behind Bizhev shows the driver honking his horn and yelling during the attack to try to scare the animal off before he managed to pull away.
Bizhev, 46, said he suffered serious bite wounds to his left arm, which he had used to protect his face from the bear’s teeth and claws. A seatbelt saved him from the bear from being yanked into the street.
“I saw the bear’s ears prick up and it jumped at me,” he told a local outlet, according to Jam Press.
“It tried to grab me and pull me out of the car.”
Bizhev, a former president of football club Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, underwent emergency surgery, according to Radio Bulgaria.
Officials believe the bear was trying to protect its small cub. JamPressThe attack took place on the mountainous Transfăgărășan Highway near the Vidraru Dam in an area where tourists flock to see — and feed — the wildlife, despite warnings from officials.
Bizhev said that, even though it’s illegal to feed the wild bears in Romania and punishable by a hefty fine, food is sold at stops for feeding the animals.
Neither the mother bear nor its cub, which officials believe it was trying to protect, were hurt in the frightening encounter.
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