When we see people working with bears at the surface, we may be just a little bit jealous. It’s always interesting to see someone get up close and personal with such a large animal and they just look so cute we want to hug them.

Unfortunately, there can also be times when things don’t go exactly as planned. This includes what happened when one handler was working with a bear at a circus, and the bear decided to attack.

48-year-old Sergei Prichinich is the handler who was working with the bear for the performance. At the time of the attack, the bear was standing with a hoverboard.

In the video, you can see the moment that the female bear lunged toward the handler and knocked him down. It was during a performance in central Russia.

Dounut, the brown bear, pinned the handler to the ground and appeared to be biting a stick that the handle is holding. The bear, which weighs some 490 pounds held him down while another trainer was poking at the bear through the bars of the cage with the stick.

There were a few moments where it seemed as if the handler would not get back up but finally, he was able to get on his feet. Dounut was aggressive at first but after the attacks, she walked away calmly.

Some reported that the handler was taken to the hospital but the circus is denying it, saying that the performance continued.

Neither the bear nor the trainer were injured during the attack.

WATCH: Horrifying moment hoverboard-riding circus bear turns on its handler and pins him to the ground in front of screaming audience in Russiahttps://t.co/t6gxcJuPr4 pic.twitter.com/cU7zpMdnIh

— Video Forensics (@Video_Forensics) August 27, 2024