“Bear Tried to Pull Me Out of the Car": Bulgarian Man Injured in Bear Attack Gives First Account of Incident in Romania

The incident involving a Bulgarian tourist who was attacked by a bear in Romania while feeding the animal attracted widespread public attention and was reported by a number of international media outlets.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, Georgi Bizhev from Gorna Oryahovitsa told Denyat zapochva (“The Day Begins”) programme what happened during his journey through the so-called “Bear Pass”.

Bizhev is Chairman of the Sports and Technical Commission of the Regional Council of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) in Veliko Tarnovo.

He shared details of the incident in which he was injured while inside his vehicle:

“A few days ago, on Wednesday, my friend and I set off for Budapest to watch the Champions League final. As we do every year, we travelled through the so-called Bear Pass, or the pass that is closest to the sky.”

According to Bizhev, this was far from his first journey along the route:

“We have probably travelled through there around ten times.”

He stressed that the area is particularly well known because tourists visit it specifically to see bears at close range:

“Everyone who goes through this pass goes there for one reason only – to see the bears.”

He said that along the entire route there are places where visitors can buy food intended for the animals:

“Along the whole road, all the way to the point where the bears actually appear, every restaurant and every shop has designated areas where you can buy food for the bears.”

He acknowledged that feeding wild animals was a mistake, but noted that it is a widespread practice in the area:

“There is no one who goes there and does not feed the bears, which does not justify either me or the actions of the person I was with in feeding a wild animal, but we do not believe that we did anything wrong.”

Georgi Bizhev said that at the time of the incident he was inside his vehicle, with other tourists in front of and behind him:

“In front of us there was a stopped vehicle and the people in it were feeding a bear and its cub. We were the second car behind them, and behind us there was a vehicle with Ukrainian tourists.”

He also said he did not leave the car or provoke the animal in any way:

“When the bear came up to us, as you can see in the footage, my car window was closed and I was filming from inside the vehicle. I did not get out, and I did not provoke the animal in any way.”

He also said he did not leave the car and did not provoke the animal:

"The moment the bear stood next to us, you can see in the footage as well that the window of my vehicle was closed and I was filming from the vehicle. That is, I did not go outside, I did not challenge the animal in any way."

He said the situation escalated after the actions of other tourists:

“The tourists behind me, perhaps out of ignorance or because it was their first time there, started honking at the bear and shouting.”

After later reviewing the footage, he noticed a change in the animal’s behaviour:

“I saw that the bear’s ears pricked up and it made a single jump…”

He then described the moment he says he will never forget:

“We saw how the glass of our car was like a sheet of paper to it.”

He said that after the window was broken, the bear turned towards him:

“Perhaps the fact that I was wearing a seatbelt saved me to some extent. It tried to grab me and pull me out of the vehicle.”

Bizhev said he does not blame the animal for what happened:

“I entered its environment. I believe what I did was a mistake. A mistake that, as you can see, I have paid for.”

He described how he tried to protect himself:

“The bear tried to pull me out of the car and bite me here on the neck. I raised my arm like this, and it bit my arm.”

Despite his injuries, Georgi Bizhev said he remains positive about what happened and used the opportunity to thank the medical teams who treated him after returning to Bulgaria.