Wildlife enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of brown bears in the US have helped save a lost hiker after tuning into a bear cam livestream.
Viewers spotted the unidentified hiker on the Dumpling Mountain live camera at the remote Katmai National Park, in Alaska, on Tuesday afternoon, noticing he appeared “in distress”.
The hiker was seen mouthing the words “lost” and “help me” and gave a thumbs-down to the camera, which is unable to record audio, according to the BBC.
Viewers quickly got in touch with Explore.org, the company which operates the webcam. It was able to contact the National Park Service which ultimately rescued the man.
“Dedicated bear cam fans alerted us to a man in distress on Dumpling Mountain,” Explore.org wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The heroic rangers @KatmaiNPS sprung into action and mounted a search, saving the man.”
A spokeswoman for the National Park Service told the BBC the stranded hiker was found “unharmed” at 6.48pm local time after he was caught in “windy and rainy conditions” at the national park, which has no mobile phone reception.
Viewers are known to tune into the live streams to watch brown bears fattening themselves up at the national park for their winter hibernation.
Mike Fitz, Explore.org’s resident naturalist, told USA Today he was “surprised” viewers were watching the live camera footage given the limited visibility and dense fog.
“Webcam viewers were still watching it, to my surprise, actually, and they were paying attention, which was doubly surprising,” Mr Fitz told the publication.
“You couldn’t see any of the landscape. It would be extremely unlikely animals would be visible because you couldn’t see very far.”
Mr Fitz thanked the viewers for helping in the rescue.
“We have webcam viewers from all around the world,” he said. “They’re always watching. They’re always paying attention.”