Video captured Monday shows a mother shielding her son after a black bear leapt on a picnic table and devoured the son’s birthday food inches away from the boy’s face.
“The worst thing was that Santiago [the son] might get scared,” the mother, Silvia Macías, told The Associated Press on Tuesday, explaining that her 15-year-old son with Down syndrome can be easily startled by animals. “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.” (RELATED: ‘Keep A Slow, Slow Pace’: Massive Grizzly Bears Stalk Hikers On Trail For 20 Minutes)
@angelachaapa Cuando vas a echarte un taco a Chipinque 😥 #oso #viral #mty #fyp #monterrey ♬ sonido original – Ángela Chapa
She told the outlet that she and a friend, Angela Chapa, knew bear encounters at the park in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey was possible, albeit uncommon. Chapa, who later filmed the bear encounter, said she knew not to run from the bear, The AP noted.
Macías could be seen in the video not making eye contact with the bear as she tried to avoid any act that the bear might consider to be threatening. She could also be seen shielding her son’s eyes with her hand and holding him. Macías recalled that the bear was so close she could smell its breath, The AP reported.
A Mexican mother bravely shielded her son after a bear leapt on a picnic table and devoured the tacos and enchiladas meant for the boy’s birthday dinner, inches from his face.https://t.co/Zun9yIratz
— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) September 27, 2023
Chapa noticed that there was a plate of enchiladas that the bear had not yet consumed and threw that plate far away for the bear to follow, The AP noted. The birthday meal was not entirely ruined given that the son got his birthday tacos replaced, the outlet reported.
The American National Park Service advises people to remain calm and not make sudden movements when they encounter bears in the wild. There are about 40 bear attacks on humans a year and most such encounters occur due to the bear feeling it needs to protect its young or its food, the World Animal Foundation reported.