Rescuers found a lost boy in the forest who claimed that a bear helped him survive

This amazing story happened in the winter in the town of Ernul, North Carolina, United States. A 3-year-old boy named Casey Hathaway was walking with friends in the yard of a house. The adults were briefly distracted and then realized that the child was missing. They immediately notified the police. The local sheriff realized that in such weather the boy could freeze pretty quickly, so he called for backup from neighboring towns and formed a search party.

Local residents joined the search for the child, as well as volunteers from a rescue organization. A few hours later, help arrived: a squad of cinematologists with dogs, divers, drone operators and even a rescue helicopter. All day long they combed the woods looking for Casey, but their efforts were unsuccessful. The next day, the weather took a noticeable turn for the worse, so the sheriff asked the volunteers to abandon the search for their own safety.

Despite the bad weather, professional rescuers and police continued the operation. On the second day, the boy was found. He was entangled in bushes on a small island, so the rescuers had to reach the child by water. No one understood how he could be on this island. On the way home, the baby told the sheriff that he had made friends with a bear in the forest, which helped him survive the two days.

This was the same story he told his family when he reached home. The aunt believed the boy and in the interview expressed the idea that the Lord himself decided to help the child and sent him such a friend. The woman summarized her speech with the words, “Miracles happen.”

There is indeed a fairly large population of black bears in the forests of North Carolina, but it is not known if one of them was near Casey or if he was just a figment of the child’s imagination.

Chris Servin, an expert on these animals who works at the University of Montana, said it’s unlikely. Most likely, the boy invented the image of a bear so that he would not be so scary in the woods. The fact is that black bears are very cautious and prefer to avoid people, even small ones. If the boy saw a bear, it was either defending its territory or hunting, in which case the boy would be attacked. In all other cases, the bear would simply smell him and would not approach.

The scientist also said that he was not trying to accuse the child of lying, but only predicted the variants of events, based on years of experience in studying these animals. He also suggested that the boy may have a teddy bear that he feels comfortable falling asleep with. Perhaps he remembered her in the forest, which caused his imagination to run wild.