Heart-stopping moment black bear gatecrashes picnic as mother shields terrified son's face
27 September 2023, 06:35
A black bear came within inches of guests at a family picnic in Mexico, as a mother held her terrified son tight.
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Terrifying footage of the incident in Chipinque Park near Monterrey shows Silvia Macias covering the eyes of her son Santiago, who has Down's Syndrome and is scared of any animal, let alone a bear.
The bear jumped on the table and ate much of Santiago's 15th birthday lunch, including chips, enchiladas, tacos and salsa.
It then jumped back off the table and headed back to the woods.
The video, which was filmed by Ms Macias' friend, Angela Chapa, shows the mother looking downwards to avoid appearing to present any kind of challenge to the bear.
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“The worst thing was that Santiago might get scared,” Ms Macias said later.
"Santiago is very afraid of animals, a cat or a dog, any animal scares him a lot," she told the Associated Press,
“That’s why I covered his eyes, because I didn’t want him to see it and scream or run. I was afraid that if he got scared or screamed or scared the bear, that the bear would react,” she said.
Ms Macias and Ms Chapa had previously thought out how they would react if a bear approached.
We are going to play a game where we cover Santiago’s eyes and we are going to act like statues,” she recalled.
Santiago followed the plan and sat very still even though “the bear was very close to us," Ms Macias said. "We heard him as he growled, as he ate, you could smell the bear. It was really very, very close.”
Asked if he had been scared, Santiago said: "Yes, a lot."
Ms Macias said she wasn't a hero - "just a mother who protected her cub".
