Grin and bear it! Boy, 12, keeps calm and carries on
A BOY who encountered a large brown bear has been praised for his composure after he walked slowly away.
Alessandro Franzoi, 12, came across the massive predator while walking with relatives in the Italian Alps.
He said: “I knew I had to avoid scaring the bear and just had to move away from it.
“You know what the secret was?
I didn’t look it in the eye, so the bear understood I was not his enemy. It was the best day of my life, a dream come true.”
The boy’s uncle, named as Federico, told an Italian newspaper: “He was walking a few yards ahead of us collecting pine shoots when we realised he was emerging from the vegetation followed by a bear. We were obviously alarmed, while he was truly calm.”
Alessandro’s encounter, above his home village of Sporminore, was filmed by his mother’s partner, Loris Calliari.
He said: “Alessandro loves bears, he couldn’t wait to see one, and he knew what to do and retreated slowly.”
Mr Calliari filmed Alessandro as he slowly returned to the group, with the bear following, at one point rearing up on its hind legs.
Confident Alessandro even turned around and faced the bear before continuing to walk away.
After a minute or so, the bear loses interest and leaves. Experts said Alessandro’s response was a textbook way to avoid harm.
As he approached his family, savvy Alessandro put a finger to his mouth to hush a woman who started speaking.
Brown bears were reintroduced to the Italian Dolomites from Slovenia in the 1990s and there are now about 50 in the area.
As the bear moved off on Sunday, Alessandro cried out, “How cool!”
According to his uncle the boy loves animals and is well read on bears.