Tourist mauled after winding window down to take selfie with bear

A Scottish tourist was bitten and mauled by a brown bear after trying to take a photograph out of the window.

Last month, 72-year-old Moira Gallacher was driving around the Carpathian Mountains in Romania with her friend when she stopped to try and take a photograph of some brown bears.

Gallacher was travelling around the European country with friend Charmian Widdowson who had visited before.

The pair had arrived in Bucharest on Sunday (21 April) and on Monday (22 April) they took a road trip to the Carpathian Mountains and bumped into two bears - a mom and baby.

Widdowson says the bears were 'gorgeous' but their looks turned out to be deceiving.

She told STV News the mom bear appeared 'hungry' adding it probably thought Gallacher 'was going to be lunch'.

And when the pair decided to roll down one of the car's windows to take a better picture, one of the bears saw its opportunity.

The two women were trying to get good photographs of the bears. (X/ @STVNews)

"What had happened was, the bear came up to the window at my friend's side and no problem, it let us take a picture and went away," she explained in a video recorded by STV News.

"But I didn't get a proper picture so we went back and it was at my side."

And that's when the bear bit her in the arm, Widdowson recalling it biting down on Gallacher's arm.

However, thankfully, Gallacher was 'wearing a thick Marks and Spencer jacket' so the 'poor bear got more jacket than arm," Widdowson jokes.

Widdowson believes the bear attacked her friend because it overheard them talking about food.

She said: "My friend said, let’s get something to eat. No, you are not allowed to give food. Absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing.

The 72-year-old was bitten on the arm. (X/ @STVNews)

"And I think he heard it and decided he had to eat my friend instead."

Either way, it was a near-miss for Gallacher, who was taken to hospital where manager of the Curtea de Arges Municipal Hospital Andreea Gheordunescu confirmed a 'foreign patient' was 'presented with wounds on her right hand, wounds caused by a bear bite'.

Gallacher resolved: "I was wearing a padded jacket and a top and another top - that’s what saved my arm. I’ve been very, very lucky. The shock has set in today, but everything’s OK now."

She was reportedly discharged from hospital a few days later.

Topics: Animals, Health, Travel, World News

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.