Despite their adorable smiles, and cuddle-worthy fur, polar bears are not exactly a creature that you want to come face-to-face with in the wild. They are one of the most dangerous mammals on the planet, and living to tell the tale takes a whole lot of luck. Well, turns out, BBC adventurer Paul Rose is quite the lucky man, as he claims an 800lb polar bear pounced at his tent during an Arctic expedition.
The TV explorer was on an Arctic expedition in the Canadian Arctic when the attack occurred. And according to Mirror, the attack came completely unexpected. Rose claims he was sleeping in his tent when all of a sudden he was “woken up by this heavy weight on [his] head, neck and shoulder.” Rose claims that the animal completely blew the air right out of him, which isn’t surprising considering the female looked to be about 800lbs. He told the publication of the encounter:
I opened up the door a few inches and poked my head out – 18 inches away was this vast white head looking at me. We stared at each other for a couple of minutes, I was frightened to blink. It was a female, about 800lbs. If she stood up, she would be well over 9ft tall. She walked around the tent a couple of times and disappeared – then came back. I thought that’s it, I’m a small, naked English bloke in a tent with the world’s biggest carnivore.
That is surely one lucky English bloke. Rose admitted to such, too, feeling very ‘privileged’ to be one of a handful of people that have come face to face with a bear and survived. Especially considering Rose locked eyes with the bear, he’s extremely lucky. The first thing experts tell you if you see or expect a polar bear or grizzly, avoid eye contact at all costs. They are dominant creatures and if for one second you question that authority, well, you’re most likely dead. And if they do catch you, then best to play dead, because that’s pretty much your best chance of survival. Rose told BBC Radio that the only reason he survived the encounter was by keeping very calm and maintaining a slow heart rate.
Paul Rose’s next adventure is bound to be a little less dangerous, as he takes a 268-mile trip along the Pennine Way, a National Trail in England, this summer.
