*A New Delhi man that attempted to take a selfie with an injured bear was mauled to death. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I have to wonder what dude was thinking? How he pictured this would end?”
I’m kind of thinking that the hurt bear may even have been injured by a human. So he or she already had an attitude, and now up walks this Indian dude talking about, “Smile.”
Anyway, it’s a sad situation. Even sadder, it happened in front of friends. Prabhu Bhatara was coming from a wedding with a group of friends in the Pharsaguda area of the eastern Indian state of Odisha when he stopped his car near a forest to pee.
At some point, he spotted the injured animal, and things went downhill from there. Now all kinds of thoughts may be running through your head right now as to what YOU would have done. If you’re anything like me, that is.
Dude did none of those things — unless you were thinking, “Hey, I’m going to take a selfie with this injured, wild animal; who just happens to be a bear.”
Is that what you were thinking?
According to a 2016 study done by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Delhi, India topped the list of countries with selfie-related deaths. The country had 76 deaths from March 2014 to September 2016.
MSN News reports…
Amateur footage broadcast by several Indian news networks show the victim being mauled by the bear while another person tries to ward off the animal using a stick. A stray dog can also be seen attacking the bear. The victim, engaged in a fist-to-claw fight with the bear, manages to stand up briefly, before being dragged down to the ground again.
The Hindustan Times also reported the bystanders “were busy shooting the incident on their mobile phones instead of trying to rescue him.”
See? Look at us? Humans!
The newspaper quotes forest official Dhanurjaya Mohapatra as saying “Bhatara died on the spot.”
Selfie attempts are getting people killed! We’ve had our share here in the states; with people falling off of cliffs and bridges because of their flip-flops.
In 2016, a teenager in India’s Punjab state died when he accidentally shot himself while posing for a selfie with a loaded gun.
That same year, authorities in Mumbai established 16 no-selfie zones after a spike in selfie-related deaths.
