The rescue of three-year-old Casey Hathaway, who went missing in the forest, which became known on January 24, was subject to heated discussion among zoologists. The boy said that a wild bear, who looked after him for two days, helped him survive, The Guardian reports. Chris Servheen, a bear researcher at the University of Montana, is convinced that the child invented a fairy tale because "wild bears are not friendly with humans." “I have never seen such cases, bears do not behave like that,” he concluded.
He also stressed that "he does not accuse the kid of lying", but only explains the real developments. According to his version, the child saw "some things" in the forest, and his imagination ran wild. Hathaway might have a pet toy, a teddy bear, Servin suggested. According to him, animals are afraid of people in the wild, so the only reason a bear approaches a person is a subsequent attack. However, black bears do not attack people, the researcher explained.
Servin is confident that the bear would not spare the child, thinking that he was lost and in danger. Most likely, the bear would smell Hathaway and try to avoid meeting him, he concluded. "We're glad he found some solace for himself," Sheriff David McFadyen told CNN. "He was in terrible conditions: on the first night the air temperature dropped to minus six degrees, the next day it started raining."
The boy is preparing for a psychologist's examination, but so far the law enforcement agencies are giving Hathaway time to recover. Casey Hathaway, 3, from Craven County, North Carolina, disappeared on Tuesday, January 22nd. They were looking for him with the help of helicopters, drones, dog handlers and divers. On Thursday, January 24, police found the boy in the woods on an islet in a thorny bush. Hathaway got off with a couple of scratches.
