A man mauled by bears twice is lucky to be alive after fighting for his life both times. ABC News reports that Bob, who asked his second name not be used, was jogging last week at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington when a bear attacked him again; he was first mauled by a bear four years ago.
KOMO News reports that the victim has more than 40 bites, several claw marks, and deep contusions from black bears mauling him.
“Multiple attacks on my shoulders, he bit me on my head, my arms, my hand,” Bob says.
Bob was running on a main trail in the woods surrounding the base when his dog, Abby, surprised the bear. The animal began charging towards Bob, so he grabbed a 4-foot-long tree branch and got into fight mode.
The man mauled by bears twice goes on to describe the latest attack with the bear.
“It would whip around, do this 180 and go for my leg, my shoulders, my head, and just come in and bite me again, and I would just try to nail it when it came in.”
“It was just running straight for me. The dog went running by me, and I just had this deja vu.”
He shares what happened in the 2011 attack — which involved the same trail and jogging with the same dog.
“It sort of jumped at me, grabbed my by my belly and my rear end and took me down, bit me and mauled me a couple times. I just rolled up in a ball and stayed still.”
Scars from that attack are still present on Bob. Wildlife Officers are just as shocked that he was attacked twice by a bear. Sgt. Ted Jackson of WDFW says the “odds of being attacked twice, I would say it’s impossible, last week. But it happened. I just can’t even calculate the odds of being attacked once, let alone twice.”
The first bear that mauled Bob was never found, but wildlife officials were determined to get the second bear. It took them six days to locate the animal to make sure the DNA matched the attacking bear before killing it. Hounds picked up the animal’s scent and tried cornering it, but the bear proved too dangerous for even the dogs. Officials were then forced to shoot and kill the 300-pound black bear. Agents plan to run tests, but believe they got the right bear.
Bob is curious to know if it’s the same bear that jumped on him four years ago. He loves the woods at Lewis-McChord, but says he’s too old to fight the bears anymore and doesn’t want there to be a third time. Since the man was mauled by bears twice in his life, he wonders why he’s been the bears’ target.
[Image via KOMO 4 ]