Scottish tourist mauled by bear through car window in Romania

A Scottish holidaymaker got lucky when he was bitten by a brown bear in the Romanian Carpathians.

The “mummy bear” clamped its jaws around Moira Gallacher’s hand as she tried to take a photo while traveling through the Carpathian Mountains.

The 72-year-old from West Lothian credits the survival of her arm to the fact she was wearing a “thick, padded Marks and Spencer jacket”.

Ms Gallacher arrived in Bucharest on Sunday with her friend Charmian Widdowson, who previously lived and worked in Romania.

TVR

On Monday they were traveling northwest into the Carpathians, near the Vidraru Dam, when they came face to face with two bears.

“We saw these bears – a mummy bear and a baby – they were beautiful,” Ms Widdowson said.

‘But they weren’t beautiful.

“The mummy bear was hungry and thought my friend was going to have lunch.

“She was wearing a big Marks and Spencer jacket and the poor bear ended up with more of a jacket than an arm.”

Mrs Gallacher was taken to hospital by ambulance.

TVR

She told Observator News: “I’m from Scotland,” before adding: “My arm hurts.”

She said: “We were in the car and we went to take a picture. And the bear came to the window.”

The window was rolled down and a photo of the bear was taken before the attack, but Ms Gallacher’s phone has been lost.

Ms Gallacher is still recovering but expects to be discharged on Wednesday.

“I am a very happy woman,” she told STV News.

“I wore a padded jacket and a top and another top – that saved my arm. I’ve been very, very lucky.

“The shock set in today, but everything is fine now.”

Romania is home to Europe’s largest population of European brown bears. They are the largest land carnivores in Central Europe, reaching a huge size of just over 2.2 meters and weighing up to 350 kg.

They are incredibly fast and can reach speeds of 50 km/h, but they are also excellent climbers.

It is believed that 6,000 bears live in the Carpathians.

The bears go to the winter dens before the end of the year and emerge in March and April.

Andreea Gheordunescu, manager of the Curtea de Argeș Municipal Hospital: “In the Curtea de Argeș Municipal Hospital, a foreign patient received wounds on her right hand, wounds caused by a bite.”

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