WATCH: Amazing Video of Woman Hiking With Bears

Editor’s note: We published this story earlier in the week, but here it is again in case you missed it.

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has closed hiking trails at Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Burlington due to the apparent bold behavior of a black bear there that followed and approached a female hiker early Friday afternoon.

DEEP’s Wildlife staff say the male bear – which is approximately 1 ½ years old and possibly weighs about 150 pounds – followed the woman for quite some time shortly after noon. It also approached and circled her when she stopped walking and at one point it appears that its mouth made contact with the hiker’s leg. The hiker was not injured in the incident.

Video of the bear taken by the woman, Stephanie Rivkin, showed tags on its ears that had been placed there by DEEP staff in previous dealings with the bear. DEEP records show the bear was first tagged as a yearling in its winter den, as part of the agency’s effort to track the bear population, and was also captured and relocated at least one other time.

Rivkin said when the bears approached her, she thought, “This is something I’ll never forget. Please God let me get back to my car.”

She said she’s received some negative feedback concerning her video.

“For all of the people who don’t know the whole story, yet are posting ridiculous comments about me, I will post the rest of the videos so you can see for yourself that I did nothing to antagonize or even approach the bears. I also had no bad intentions when I reported the bears. And stated very clearly that I did not want any harm to come to the bears. That part is beyond my control,” Rivkin said.

Rivkin’s friend Crista N Oronde Moore wrote on Stephanie’s Facebook page, “So happy she is ok and impressed on how calm she remained, that may just be what prevented her from being hurt!”

DEEP has posted signs at Sessions Woods notifying hikers that the trails there are closed until further notice.

DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said, “DEEP staff had a chance to talk with this woman after her encounter with the bear. We are relieved she was not injured. This was certainly an unusual incident as bears do not often approach people.”

Schain added, “We did respond immediately when woman made it to our building at Sessions. Our Wildlife staff went out right away to try to locate and euthanize the bear. They saw it but were not able to take action before it disappeared into dense woods. We did set a trap at that location. Our EnCon officers and Wildlife biologists are keeping an eye out for the bear and will respond to any reports of its presence. We will euthanize it if we have the opportunity to do so. That is the appropriate action to take after seeing this bear’s behavior today.”

Video credit: Stephanie Rivkin