Tourists Fend Off Terrifying Bear By Screaming In Its Face

Credit: IG/scenicbearviewing

People are frequently reminded of what to do if a bear charges them with the use of a catchy phrase.

It goes: "If it's black, attack. If it's brown, lay down."

It appears that these tourists were totally unaware of the situation.

A group of individuals was attacked by a brown bear while on a recent guided trip in Alaska.

But they yelled in its face and were able to scare it away rather than hitting the deck or even the legs.

People are debating whether the gang was tremendously brave or incredibly stupid in light of the utterly wild and viral video of the terrifying event.

They're still alive, either way.

A guided bear tour was led by Scenic Bear Viewing earlier this month in Chinitna Bay on Lake Clark's Cook Inlet.

The tour, however, took a dramatic turn when visitors saw a brown bear charging in their direction in the distance.

The thing was moving at great speeds to make up such quick ground as it drew nearer and nearer.

Before one guy emerged from the gathering to stop it in its tracks, you could sense a hint of panic in some people's voices as it drew closer.

Martin Boland, who was wearing a bucket hat and clutching a camera, approached the animal head-on and screamed in its face.

The noises apparently alarmed the bear, who veered off course and thankfully missed the group by a short distance.

Amazingly, after the terrifying event, the lad who was shouting merely walked back to the group.

Boss.

The close call was shared by Scenic Bear Viewing on social media, where it went viral and received millions of views in an instant.

"Never run from a charging bear, even though your instinct is to run. This is a bluff charge. They are just trying to get you to run. They have a natural chase instinct," the caption read.

"Don't get close to bears in the wild. Make sure you have an experienced guide with you! We do not get closer than 50 yards. These bears came to us.”

"We have been Bear guiding for over 10 years. This happened a few days ago, and it's not the first time. We are trained exactly for this situation. We are a professional bear guide operation. Although we will try to avoid this at all costs."

The hero himself came forward to tell the tale in his own words as the clip began going viral online.

"Bluff charges are rare and this is the first time by an adult male for me," Martin Boland told FTW Outdoors.

"It’s usually just the smaller sub-adult bears. It’s mating season so he was not from this area.”

"This was a bear I had never seen before. He was just in the area to mate with the females and move on up the coast. He may have not seen humans before this encounter. The female bears in this area we see every year and they know we are not a threat. You can see in the video the female brown bear doesn’t care about us and is digging up clams."