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Maine Couple's Wildlife Encounter: Bear Chase Interrupted by Truck
🇮🇳 India /Good News

Maine Couple's Wildlife Encounter: Bear Chase Interrupted by Truck

From Times of India · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • A couple in Maine witnessed a black bear chasing a moose calf and intervened by driving their truck between the animals.
  • The man's quick action startled the bear, allowing the calf to escape and reunite with its mother.
  • The dramatic encounter was captured on camera by the woman, who initially mistook the images for insects on the windshield.

What began as a peaceful fishing trip for Todd and Elvia Malcolm in Telos Township, Maine, transformed into a heart-pounding wildlife drama when they encountered a black bear in pursuit of a young moose calf.

Grab your phone because you're going to get a chance to get a picture of a moose.

— Todd MalcolmRecounting his words to his wife upon spotting the mother moose.

Driving through the area, the couple first spotted the calf's mother near a wooded stretch. As they stopped, the mother moose appeared restless, grunting as if calling for her young. Suddenly, the calf burst from the trees, a large black bear hot on its heels, heading directly toward the Malcolms' parked truck.

I knew what I had to do and I just did it.

— Todd MalcolmExplaining his immediate decision to intervene in the bear chase.

In a split-second decision, Todd steered the truck between the bear and the calf, not to harm the bear, but to startle it and end the chase. The tactic worked: the bear veered off into the woods, and the calf, given a crucial reprieve, escaped. "I knew what I had to do and I just did it," Todd later recounted, emphasizing the instinctual nature of his intervention.

My heart was racing because I did not want to witness the bear catching the calf.

— Elvia MalcolmDescribing her emotional reaction during the wildlife encounter.

Elvia, meanwhile, felt her heart race, fearing the calf's capture. The tense moments felt prolonged, but relief washed over her when she saw the calf reunite with its mother further up the road. Adding to the extraordinary experience, Elvia later discovered that the rapid sequence of events had been captured on her phone, though she initially dismissed the blurred images as mere smudges on the windshield.

I really thought I probably got like a bug on the windshield when I started to look at them.

— Elvia MalcolmRecalling her initial reaction to the photos she captured of the chase.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Times of India in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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