MEXICO CITY — A Mexican mom bravely shielded her son after a bear leapt on a picnic desk and devoured the tacos and enchiladas meant for the boy’s birthday dinner, inches from his face.
Silvia Macías of Mexico Metropolis had traveled to the Chipinque Park within the northern metropolis of Monterrey to have fun the fifteenth birthday of her son, Santiago, who has Down syndrome.
Quickly after they sat right down to eat the meals that they had introduced, the bear confirmed up and gulped down french fries, enchiladas, tacos and salsa. A video shot by her buddy, Angela Chapa, reveals Macías sitting stoically, inches from the bear’s mouth, holding Santiago and shielding his eyes along with her hand. She saved her eyes downcast, to keep away from something the bear would possibly take into account a problem.
“The worst factor was that Santiago would possibly get scared,” Macías recalled Tuesday in an interview with The Related Press. “Santiago could be very afraid of animals, a cat or a canine, any animal scares him quite a bit.”
“That is why I coated his eyes, as a result of I did not need him to see it and scream or run. I used to be afraid that if he bought scared or screamed or scared the bear, that the bear would react,” she mentioned of the incident Monday.
Macías mentioned that she and Chapa had beforehand considered the opportunity of a bear encounter — they aren’t unknown within the park, although often the bears come out extra towards daybreak or nightfall, not noon — they usually had give you a plan.
“We’re going to play a sport the place we cowl Santiago’s eyes and we’re going to act like statues,” she recalled rehearsing the plan.
And that’s precisely what they did: Santiago remained immobile, regardless that “the bear was very near us, we heard him as he growled, as he ate, you may scent the bear. It was actually very very shut.”
Requested if he had been scared, Santiago, who attends center faculty in Mexico Metropolis, mentioned “sure, quite a bit.”
Their resourceful buddy Angela, who filmed the scene, lives in Monterrey and knew the right habits for a black bear encounter: by no means run.
She seen a plate of enchiladas the bear had not eaten — the bear appeared to choose french fries, and as a real Mexican, had eaten the salsa — and he or she tossed the enchilada far-off, after displaying it to the animal. As anticipated, the animal adopted the meals and Angela stood in entrance of the bear, shielding Macías and her son and permitting them to retreat quietly and slowly.
Ultimately, the bear went away.
Santiago bought his birthday tacos changed, and all ended properly.
Macías says she does not take into account herself a hero.
“I simply assume I am a mom who protected her cub,” she mentioned.