Animal filmmaker from the Ahrweiler district Kieling attacked by bear: "Something like this traumatises me too"
Hümmel/Much · Wildlife filmmaker Andreas Kieling from the district of Ahrweiler was attacked by a bear in mid-May. Now the 63-year-old has spoken out about his injuries and his future course of action.
After an attack by a brown bear in the Romanian Carpathians, wildlife filmmaker Andreas Kieling is looking for fault in himself. "Something like that traumatises me too," the 63-year-old, who lives in Hümmel in the district of Ahrweiler, told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" ("SZ", Thursday). "So whether I will shoot there again exactly? I don't know. But I will learn from my mistakes.“
According to his own account, the well-known wildlife filmmaker ("Kieling's Wild World") had been attacked by a brown bear in the wilderness of the Romanian region of Transylvania a good a fortnight ago when he wanted to film rare bird species there. Among other things, his right wrist was broken several times during the attack. In the meantime, he is on the road to recovery, Kieling told the SZ.
The attack would not change anything fundamental about his work. "Now it was close that a bear would have been the reason for my death. But that is not why I will give up my work," he said in the interview. A certain amount of risk is part of his job, he said. "Just like a firefighter exposes himself to fire because it is his job to rescue people." He did not hold the attack against the bear against him: "The animal followed its instincts."
(Original text: ga/dpa; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
