Watch: Giant bear surreptitiously stalks a 12-year-old boy walking down a hill, is caught on camera

The incident took place in Trentino, Italy.

A scary video of a huge bear following a 12-year-old boy down a hill in northern Italy has been widely shared on social media.

The video, shot in Trentino, Italy, showed 12-year-old Alessandro walking down a hill towards his family while the bear stayed close behind him. The boy was on an excursion with his family when the incident happened. The video was recorded by Loris Calliari, Alessandro’s stepfather.

“I was nervous at first but then saw that the bear was not scared, was not acting, so I calmed down,” Calliari was quoted as saying by Mercury News. Alessandro was reportedly collecting pine cones in the bushes where the family thinks that the bear was sleeping. The boy loves animals and asked Calliari to take a picture of him with the bear when the family realised that the animal was making its way towards the boy.

The family eventually decided to post the video on Facebook because they thought that it was an “incredible experience”.