Man killed while taking selfie with bear

A man was killed while taking selfie with a wounded bear near a forest in Nabarangpur district on Wednesday. He was identified as Prabhu Bhatara, a driver. Forest officials recovered the body after tranquilising the wild bear.

The incident was reported near the forest under Kosagumuda block. Bhatara was attacked by the bear while taking selfie on his smartphone with the wild animal, which was wounded, near a pond. He died on the spot.

According reports, Bhatara spotted the bear in the forest on his way from Kotapad to Papadahandi by a Bolero with some passengers, who were returning from a wedding function. The passengers opposed him to get down from the vehicle in the forest when he expressed his interest to click a selfie with the bear. The bear that had gone to the pond to drink water killed him when he slipped while taking selfie with it.

Ironically, the locals, who were witnessing the entire episode, were busy shooting the incident on their mobile phones without trying to rescue the driver. A dog that was seen in the video came forward to rescue him but failed to save him from the wild animal.