A 12-year-old boy from Italy had an extremely close encounter with a large bear while hiking with his family in Italy.
The entire moment was caught on cam.
12-year-old Alessandro was walking with his family in Malga Nuova in the Trentino region when the bear started to stalk him.
The incident happened on May 24, 2020.
Alessandro, who could be seen standing a couple of meters away from the animal, is being praised for his actions on social media.
Him staying calm helped him get rid of the deadly bear without getting attacked or mauled.
Tense footage of the moment shows the bear following the 12-year-old boy as he was walking down a steep hill as the animal followed him slowly.
The father of Alessandro could be heard saying “Come Ale” as he filmed the entire moment.
Following the instructions of his father, Alessandro walked nervously towards his family, while making very small movements.
When the bear was seen standing on its hind legs, Alessandro panicked and called out for his mother, however, his father came right back and told him to stay calm.
Eventually the bear started to lose interest in the family and stopped following them.
Loris Calliari, the boy’s stepfather who captured the remarkable encounter on video, said:
I noticed that he was moving and I told him (Alessandro) to walk slowly, to be careful, that I will take a picture but to move. I was nervous at first but then saw that the bear was not scared, was not acting, so I calmed down.
Calliari said that the mother of the boy and his grandmother were extremely upset about the incident and were screaming.
No matter what, kudos to Calliari and Alessandro for staying extremely calm throughout the incident.