-
(#1) A Woman Fought Off A Black Bear, Then Drove Four Miles With Her Face Torn Open To Find Help
Allena Hansen was 56 when a black bear leaped out of the trees and attacked on her property in the mountains of California in 2008. She recalled:
I found myself down on the ground. I heard, "Chomp, chomp, chomp." I felt it go through my skull. I felt it bite through this eye. I heard kind of a squishy, crunchy pop. I went, "There goes my eye!" Then it got a hold of my face and started shaking—you know, worrying it. I could feel it tearing off. I could feel the blood, the wetness; I could see it dripping, I could hear it 'whooshing.' And I think the one thing that was most vivid to me was watching that little bugger spit my teeth out.
Hansen gave up fighting until she heard her two dogs attack the bear trying to save her. The faithful canines gave her hope and Hansen was able to distract the bear by sticking her thumbs into its eyes. She managed to make her way down a hill to her car, her dogs alive and following her. Hansen's face was badly damaged, but she was able to drive her car four miles to the local fire station in order to get help.
-
(#2) A Man Was Attacked By The Same Mother Grizzly Twice In One Day
In 2016, Montana knife maker and trail engineer Todd Orr took a hike to scout for elk. He encountered a mother grizzly and her cubs, and she charged at Orr to protect her young. An experienced outdoorsman, he carried bear spray which he hoped would deter the attack. Unfortunately, it had little effect as she jumped on top of him, biting Orr's head and arm. Orr remembered to maneuver onto his stomach and cover his neck in order to protect his vital organs until the bear finally lost interest and walked away.
Orr got up and began the three-mile hike back to his car so he could drive himself to the hospital, but the bear returned after about 10 minutes to attack again. She tore into his arm and shoulder, then stood on top of his body. Eventually, she left again and Orr was able to hike the rest of the way to his vehicle. Almost as amazing a feat as surviving two bear attacks, Orr remained calm and collected while describing his experience on a Facebook video he recorded after the second attack.
Check out this video to see Orr describe his attack as well as the video he recorded. Be warned, there is some graphic imagery.
-
(#3) Two Women Were Chased By A Black Bear Through The Nova Scotia Woods
Lindsay Jones and Nikki Latta went to some woods near Port George, Nova Scotia, to paint on trees and were greeted by a hunting dog. When the dog suddenly ran away, they were suspicious, but continued on. A few minutes later, a large black bear emerged from the trees only a few feet away and the women yelled to scare it off.
Latta recounted to Women's Health:
We thought the yelling had scared it away, because we didn't see it. Still, we grabbed hands and started running. Then we saw the bear following right behind us...I've taken wilderness survival courses, and what frightened me most was that the bear wasn't scared of us. I knew we shouldn't run, but it was so close and gave us little choice. So we tried to escape as smartly as we could, playing cat and mouse and taking turns distracting it by shouting and waving our arms while the other person ran.
Eventually, the women came across a hunting shack and broke in, calling 911 from a cell phone. About an hour later, the police found the women's car and the shack. The bear was tracked down and killed because of its abnormal predatory behavior.
-
(#4) A Man Lost Most Of His Face To A Bear Attack
Avid hunter Lee Brooke was hunting for elk with a few friends in Wyoming in 2016. When he went to pick up an elk he had shot the day before, he found a bear and her cubs had already claimed it. Brooke was unable to run away before the bear attacked, grabbing him from behind, biting his face, and leaping on top of him. Half of his body was crushed and he could see his nose and mustache on the ground a few feet away. Brooke didn't have his gun with him and could only stab at the bear with a steak knife he had in his pocket, which didn't have much effect.
Eventually, the bear left and Brooke was able to call for help. A hiking couple passing by called for medical help, and an hour later, Brooke's brother in law found him. Brooke was transported to two different hospitals where doctors were able to save his life.
-
(#5) A Woman Was Attacked By A Grizzly While Walking Her Dogs And Lived To Tell The Tale
Patty Miller had a three-year summer tradition of renting a trailer in Montana near her brother's fishing cabin and Glacier National Park. In 2013, she was on a walk around a lake with her two dogs when they stumbled upon two grizzly bear cubs and their mother.
Miller recalled to Backpacker:
She reared up onto her hind legs, must have been 8 feet tall. Her roar echoed throughout the valley as she dropped down to chase after me at a speed I didn't think possible. "So this is how it ends," I thought as I started to run.
The bear quickly caught her, clawing at her arms and biting her head. Miller was unable to reach her bear spray and blacked out, waking up after the bear wandered off. One of her dogs was dead and Miller realized she had forgotten her cell phone. She started walking, found an empty mountain road, and continued until a passing truck stopped almost four hours later. The bear had crushed the bones in her face and ripped the muscles in her neck, and although Miller lost an eye in the attack, doctors were able to save her life.
-
(#6) A Man Lost His Nose And One Cheek When He Got In The Middle Of His Dog's Standoff With A Grizzly
While working on his Wyoming ranch in 2013, Nic Patrick heard his dog barking and thought it had gotten into a fight with a raccoon. He went to break it up but soon realized the dog was barking at a mother grizzly and her cubs. The bear immediately attacked him and Patrick hit her with the shovel he was carrying to no effect. She bit him in the face, tearing off a section between his eyes and mouth before dragging him a few yards away by the knee. Patrick maneuvered onto his stomach to protect his organs and the bear eventually left.
Assuming he was safe, he got up and tried to phone for help. Unfortunately, Patrick had no cell service and the bear soon returned when it saw he was still alive. She bit the back of his head and clawed him some more before leaving with her cubs. Patrick hobbled a quarter of a mile home where his wife called for help. Wth his nose and one cheek gone, doctors used skin from Patrick's back to rebuild his face around a prosthetic nose.
-
(#7) A Woman Was Able To Kick A Black Bear Away In Order To Escape Its Claws, Then Screamed Until It Left
Laurie Cooksey was hiking with three of her children in Virginia's Douthat State Park when one of her sons spotted a black bear only feet in front of them. It charged and the four of them took off running, but the bear caught Cooksey and pushed her to the ground, biting her on the leg. "He was fast. He was just so fast. The saving grace was it was raining hard and the leaves were slippery," she said.
Cooksey and the bear slid down an incline and she managed to kick the bear hard enough that it slid a good distance away from her. Then, she made a run for it. She met up with her kids just before the bear reappeared. This time, they screamed at it and made as much noise as they could, causing the bear to lose interest and leave. Cooksey received stitches in her leg and on her back to treat the injuries from the attack.
-
(#8) A Man Survived A Grizzly Bear Attack On His Birthday
Kim Wunderlich was spending his 49th birthday bow hunting with a few friends in Montana's Gravelly Mountains in 2010 when he and a companion were surprised by a grizzly bear charging out of the bushes. Wunderlich tried to hide behind a tree, but the mother grizzly attacked him. The bear knocked Wunderlich to the ground and bit at his legs before being scared off by his companion's screaming.
The men bandaged Wunderlich's wounds and they met up with the rest of their party before hiking almost two miles to their vehicle. Doctors discovered the bear had missed Wunderlich's groin and major arteries by mere inches, making his survival even more amazing.
-
(#9) A Man Was Mauled By Grizzly Bears Twice And Became A Grizzly Advocate
In 1993, Jim Cole was hiking in Glacier National Park when he encountered a young grizzly bear. The bear was startled and attacked, breaking Cole's wrist and tearing into his scalp before Cole's hiking companion scared it off with bear spray. Despite the incident, Cole continued to love the outdoors, and he even made it his life's passion to help people understand bears. He continued hiking in backcountry areas, taking pictures of bears, and writing books about his experiences.
Yellowstone was also the site of his second grizzly attack which occurred while Cole was hiking off-trail alone and accidentally stepped on a female bear. "I apparently walked right on her without knowing it and she was on me—bing!—she was on me real quick. She drove me into the ground," he wrote in his book Blindsided: Surviving a Grizzly Attack and Still Loving the Great Bear. The attack was so fast and fierce that Cole had no time to grab the bear spray from his belt before the grizzly gashed his face and tore out one eye. He endured reconstructive surgery and wore an eye patch for the rest of his life, but never stopped his advocacy for bears.
-
(#10) A Black Bear Jumped Out Of A Tree To Maul An 83-Year-Old Man
Senior citizen Orval Sanders was hunting with a few friends in Tahoe National Forest when the group cornered a black bear up a tree. After another member in the group fired at the bear, it leaped out of the tree and charged at Sanders. Sanders put his arms up to protect his face and neck as the animal mauled him, breaking his wrist in the attack. The bear eventually turned its attention on another hunter who was able to shoot and kill it. Sanders suffered serious injuries to his arms and was flown to a hospital for treatment. Doctors were surprised Sanders survived due to the amount of blood lost.
-
(#11) A Father Protected His Daughter By Punching A Bear Through The Side Of Their Tent
From Redditor /u/masevm:
About year ago my father and sister (16) went camping in northern Arizona. Everything was going well and they were having fun. Night time rolled around and they put their food up, got into the tent, and went to sleep. Around 3:00 am my dad woke up to rustling. Groggy, he tried to listen to the noise. Then, through the tent's material poked a large snout. Knowing what it was, my dad started punching as hard as he could. He kept punching until he figured the bear was gone. He slowly opened the flap of the tent, found bear footprints, woke my sister the f*ck up, and drove home.
-
(#12) A Camper Almost Became Bear Food After Storing Toothpaste In His Sleeping Bag
From Redditor /u/EatATaco:
On my wilderness orientation for college, we went hiking in New Hampshire. We were all camping on a platform under a tarp. In the middle of the night, I awake to a girl screeching. I looked up and there is a f*cking black bear head inside the tarp. I was on the opposite side of the tent so I was okay, but it was right above a guy.
Obviously, the girl's yelling woke everyone up and we were all staring at the bear. All of a sudden, it grabbed the guy's sleeping bag and starts pulling him towards the outside slowly. The girl screamed again. The guy, like most of us, was paralyzed with fear.
I don't know if it was smart or not, but the leader took out a flashlight and shined it in the bear's eyes. The bear definitely looked a little annoyed or confused by this and let go of the kid and scampered off.
Eventually, we all calmed down, got a good laugh out of the whole thing, and desperately tried to find what attracted the bear. The moron had put toothpaste in the bottom of his sleeping bag (the rest of our stuff was in a bear bag) despite the fact the leader had EXPLICITLY mentioned toothpaste was a bear treat when we were making the bag.
I don't know about anyone else but I definitely did not sleep another wink that night.
-
(#13) A Man With His Pants Down Was Nearly Mauled By A Black Bear
From Redditor /u/vsTerminus:
Tito (my employer's nickname), age 21, was working as a tree planter in the remote wilderness of Ontario, Canada. One afternoon, he spotted a black bear at the far side of his land at the edge of the forest. Another tree planter was not far away but had headphones on and wasn't aware of the nearby bear, or the fact that he was between said bear and her cubs.
Tito tried to shout and warn his friend, who of course couldn't hear over the headphones. Tito turned his attention to the bear, yelling and waving his arms, trying to get the bear away from the unaware friend. It worked.
The bear turned towards Tito but rather than wander off into the bush or casually move to investigate, the bear charged. It was still a long way off but moving quickly and Tito started backing up, shovel in hand. As the bear got closer Tito moved to take off his planting bags from his waist so that he could run if need be (those bags are heavy when full of trees).
The pants Tito was wearing that day had the same kind of side release buckle as the planting bags and he unclipped the wrong one. His pants dropped and he tripped backwards.
By this time, the bear was most of the way across the field and not slowing down. Tito was thinking, "I'm going to die today. I'm going to get eaten by a bear, with my pants around my ankles and my planting bags still on."
At the same time, the supervisor and his dog arrived at the land Tito was planting and the dog, who serves as a great bear repellent in camp, came running. The bear ignored it, continuing towards Tito. When the bear was within no more than 10 feet, it suddenly let out a deafening roar of pain; the dog bit the bear in the *ss. Hard. The bear finally turned and ran off into the bush.
Tito got a tattoo to remind himself of the bear that nearly killed him with his pants down: a bear's face on his shoulder with claw marks through it, and a dog's paw print below.
-
(#14) One Woman Was Stepped On By A Black Bear While Sleeping In Her Tent
From Redditor /u/garmachi:
A black bear stepped on my wife in the middle of the night.
We were camping...when a bear wandered into our area. It was about 3 am and everyone was asleep. It was most likely sniffing for food...and mistook my wife's tent for a large rock or something, because it walked right over her in the middle of the night.
She says she woke up to something crushing her foot and when she heard it snorting and huffing, knew exactly what it was. Adrenaline kicked in and she lay perfectly still and quiet. A few seconds later it was off her, headed toward the tree where our food was.
It managed to figure out that clawing the rope would bring the bag down, and it ate all of our supplies. Fortunately, when we surveyed the damage the next morning, everyone was okay and we were only a couple miles from the car. We had to cut our trip short, but it really could have been worse.
That area is now designated as "Bear Canisters Only" for camping.
New Random Displays Display All By Ranking
About This Tool
There are reports of bear attacks all over the world every year. There is no doubt that bears are aggressive wild animals. Even bears tamed in zoos or circuses still retain their innate nature. People cannot predict when they will get angry and cause death to humans. A number of the tragic incident of the bear attack has also triggered more serious thinking about the protection of wildlife and the safety of human beings.
Here the random tool collected 14 scary stories of bear attacks that survival people shared. Local governments should pay attention to and regulate the living space of wild animals and humans, and take necessary and safe measures to protect humans.
Our data comes from Ranker, If you want to participate in the ranking of items displayed on this page, please click here.