A group of young Lebanese have spotted and filmed a Syrian Bear and her cub in eastern Lebanon for the first time since 1958.
The Syrian Bear was previously thought to be extinct in Lebanon and its namesake Syria.
According to Greenarea, a Lebanese media site focused on environmental issues, the sighting is the first in over 60 years, and took place in the eastern Lebanese mountain range.
A male and female bear have been kept alive in a sanctuary in Lebanon's Chouf region. Attempts to breed the pair have been unsuccessful
Greenarea, verified and posted the video this week. Normally, during the winter months, bears hibernate, making the sighting even more unusual.
Nadine Mazloum of Newsroom Nomad suggests that "the sow and her cub may be running away from some sort of danger or disturbance," or "the area is warm enough and food is abundant, which allows bears to wake up and forage."
The Syrian Bear, which is a subspecies of the Brown Bear, "once ranged throughout the Middle East, as far south as the Sinai Peninsula," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
But the bears were seen as a threat to humans. They were killed off as their habitats were also depleted by human development.
While the subspecies was believed to be extinct in Syria and Lebanon, it was known to still roam – albeit with significantly reduced numbers – from "Turkey to Iran, including the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan."
Since the bear was believed to be extinct in the country, Mazloum and many others have expressed excitement at the recent sighting.
"Seeing a female bear and her cub, even if only on video, has me overwhelmed with emotion," she wrote.
"We NEED to protect these bears. I cannot stress that enough," she added, pointing out that bears "are a popular target for big game hunters" in the region.