14 August 2014

Woman Mauled By Brown Bear Describes Her Ordeal

From the Alaska News Dispatch:


Thea Thomas tried to step off the trail as a brown bear sprinted toward her, chasing a friend’s dog that she had brought along for a hike in Cordova on Tuesday afternoon. Yet in an instant, Thomas was flat on the ground, face-to-face with an angry bear that bit her repeatedly during the mauling on Heney Ridge Trail.

“By the end, I was thinking, ‘I could die here,’ ” Thomas said from an Anchorage hospital Wednesday, where she was medevaced after the attack.
 But what lead to the attack?

The trail had opened from dense forest into a series of grassy meadows. She was walking on a boardwalk that cut through the meadow. The two dogs -- her 1-year-old blue heeler, Kiska, and a friend’s Akita -- had run off out of sight, she said.

Then, “I started to hear this growling,” Thomas said. “Immediately I thought ‘That’s not a plane -- that’s something else.’ ”

The growling seemed to be about 25 feet away. Then she saw the Akita run up onto the trail and sprint toward her. “The bear was literally on its butt,” Thomas said. She tried to step off the trail.

The Akita ran past her, but the bear didn’t. Within seconds, the bear had knocked her flat on the ground.

Wildlife experts have issued several warnings this season about unleashed dogs in bear country. The dogs get scared  and run back to their owners for protection ... bringing the bear(s) in their wake.

We wish Ms. Thomas a speedy and full recovery.

9 comments:

PioneerPreppy said...

She should have had a stick!!!

Rev. Paul said...

Yep - the kind that goes "boom".

Matt said...

That dog was clearly thinking that it didn't have to outrun the bear, it just had to outrun the human.

Rev. Paul said...

Either way, it knew the human was the answer to the problem. I'm sorry Ms. Thomas wasn't better prepared for the challenge.

Cathy said...

I'm such a coward . . I couldn't read it . .
But I second your wish for Ms. Thomas's speedy and full recovery.

Rev. Paul said...

I understand, Cathy; it's not for the faint-of-heart. Thank you.

On a Wing and a Whim said...

If it's not a bear, it's Mad Momma Moose, right on their butt, and more than willing to take everything out on you...

Rev. Paul said...

That's also true, Wing; good point.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

Keep your dogs on their leash and carry a gun. The dogs probably got between momma bear and a cub causing momma bear to chase the dogs back to the owner.