Man Dies Trying to Take Selfie With Injured Bear

As if to prove that Americans aren’t the only idiots when it comes to wildlife interaction, a man in India was reportedly mauled to death when he tried to take a “selfie” photo of himself with a bear.

According to the article, Prabhu Bhatara was returning from a wedding with some others when they stopped for a potty break. Spying an injured bear, he decided it would be a good idea to get close to it and take a photo.

Although the others in the vehicle cautioned him against doing so, Bhatara came perilously close to the bear which chased him and fatally mauled him. “Bhatara died on the spot,” forest ranger Dhanurjaya Mohapatra said.

There is a video, which I will embed below. Use caution because it shows the bear chewing and shaking this guy. There was quite a crowd there, but I saw only one person attempt to help the hapless victim. If the entire crowd had rushed the bear, chances are good that it would have stopped its attack. The only creature really trying to save this human life was a dog.

How sad.

The driver’s fellow passengers who watched the entire act, were busy in shooting the incident on their mobile phones instead of trying to rescue him. A stray dog tried to fight with the bear but failed to save the man from the bear’s grip, forest officials said.

Here’s the video; use discretion. I couldn’t watch the whole thing.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.