A hiker who got lost in a remote Alaska national park was rescued last week after wildlife fans tuning into a live feed from a bear cam captured the distraught man on screen uttering the words “Help me.”
Video shared by Explore.org, a multimedia company that operates webcams for the National Park Service and other entities around the world, shows the emaciated-looking hiker trudging through thick fog on Dumpling Mountain in the Park. Katmai National last Tuesday.
Walking past a camera set up to capture the park’s world-famous grizzly bears, the unshaven, drenched traveler looks directly into the lens and mouths the words “Help me” and “Lost.”
A handful of viewers watching the broadcast at the time left comments in an Explore.org chat room alerting the company that someone was in danger on the rain-swept trail.
The Park Service was immediately informed of the emergency situation.
A hiker was rescued from a mountain in Alaska last week after saying “Help me” to a wildlife camera. X / @exploreorg
The man indicated that he got lost while hiking Dumpling Mountain in bad weather. X / @exploreorg
Katmai has several cameras operated by Explore.org to capture the park’s brown bears.Getty Images
“The park sent a search and rescue team to find the hiker, who was trapped in windy and rainy conditions with low visibility,” Park Service spokeswoman Cynthia Hernandez told the Washington Post. “Park rangers found the hiker unharmed a few hours later and took him to safety.”
Video posted by Explore.org captured a team of rangers passing by the “bear cam” on their way to save the hiker.
“Bear Cam saves hikers [sic] life!” Explore.org later announced on quest to save man.”
Explore.org shared last Wednesday that the hiker was rescued thanks to onlookers who raised the alarm.X / @exploreorg
The hiker’s name has not been released, and it was not immediately known how he got lost before coming across the life-saving camera located about 2,200 feet above sea level.
The weather at Dumpling Mountain was gloomy that day, with poor visibility, gusty winds, pouring rain and dense fog, said Mike Fitz, a former forest ranger, founder of Fat Bear Week and Explore.org’s resident naturalist.
“To my surprise, the webcam viewers were still watching it and paying attention, which was doubly surprising,” Fitz told USA Today.
Fitz added that the first time the lost hiker appeared on camera, he gave the thumbs-down sign and then moved on. But then he came back and asked for help.
Fortunately for the hiker, even though rain and fog obscured much of the landscape, some people were still watching the broadcast.
Park rangers were dispatched to Dumpling Mountain and quickly located and rescued the stranded hiker. X / @exploreorg
The area was shrouded in dense fog and torrential rain on the day of the rescue.X / @exploreorg
“There is someone in distress on camera between 3:30pm and 3:43pm,” one viewer wrote in the comments section.
Fitz said he wasn’t surprised that someone was lost in Katmai National Park, which encompasses more than 4 million acres (or 6,250 square miles, about three-quarters of New Jersey) that is only accessible by plane or boat and It has no cell phone reception.
“Even though you’re only two miles as the crow flies from Brooks River and the lodge at the park’s visitor center at the campground, in that situation, it can seem like a world apart,” Fitz told USA Today. “The weather is often much worse at the top of the mountain… it’s really hard to get your bearings.”
The “bear cams” at Katmai attract crowds of spectators from around the world in October during the annual Fat Bear Week contest. fake images
Katmai’s livestream is especially popular during Fat Bear Week, a viral online event hosted each October by park officials and nonprofit groups, in which wildlife enthusiasts vote in a March-style contest Madness among 12 of the park’s plumpest grizzly bears photographed in Brooks. River.
The bear that gains the most pounds by gorging on salmon before winter hibernation will be crowned the winner on October 5.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn