In Berlin, Germany, a polar bear has recently proved that while these animals may look cute and cuddly, they shouldn’t be messed with.  One woman found this out the hard way two weeks ago at the Berlin Zoo after she climbed a fence (for some crazy reason) and jumped into the polarbear’s habitat. The woman’s timing couldn’t have been worse as she found herself face to face with the bear at its feeding time.

Polar bears are notoriously violent hunters, using their massive strength and long, sharp claws to catch and eat prey, and human encounters with hungry bears have invariably ended badly for the human.  Although polar bears will not hunt out humans in areas where they share territory with a settlement they have been known to wander close to the town in search of food.

Although in captivity,  polar bears in zoos are still wild animals,  with powerful instincts, and this story is a reminder that you should never attempt to touch an animal at a zoo.

The adult bear bit her a few times after she ended up in its moat. Luckily, zoo workers threw rescue rings into the water for the woman and pulled her out before any nearby polar bears could get near her, saidGoerg Gebhard, a Berlin police officer.