After encountering a bear in the woods, Niklas Jonsson had to end his run with a very fast final sprint.
Niklas Jonsson enjoys training outdoors. One of his running routes goes over Pitholmsheden and past BDX. And it was there, on a bog road between BDX and southern Pitholm, that he suddenly had a feeling of not being alone in the woods.
– I felt that there was someone or something else there, and suddenly a branch snapped. I looked up and saw a big furry thing running in the opposite direction, said Niklas, who picked up his pace after the bear encounter.
He said that he had long wanted to see a bear in nature and was sure that he would get to do it someday.
– I did not feel that cocky and wished that I was faster, said Niklas, who despite a little bear fever clocked his fastest kilometer in a long time. The meeting with the bear, although brief, became a cherished memory, and on Tuesday he was back on the same running route.
Several bear sightings have been reported at Degerberget and Pitholmsheden this summer. Stock image.
– I'm not afraid, and I don't want anyone else to feel afraid to be out in the forest. It takes a lot for a bear to attack. In this case, the bear ran quickly in the other direction. I saw its brown-black back disappear into the brush. It was really big, he explained.
After the encounter, Niklas called one of the horse-owners in the area to inform them that a bear had been seen just a couple of hundred meters from one of the horse pastures.
–The man I spoke with was not surprised. He and others I know have seen a bear in the area several times this summer, he noted.
Niklas Jonsson är inte rädd för att fortsätta vistas i skogen efter björnmötet och vill inte heller att andra ska vara det. (Arkivbild)