Man shares first-hand account after he survives being bitten in the head by bear
Topics: Animals, Health, Instagram, Mental Health, Social Media, World News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: Supplied
Topics: Animals, Health, Instagram, Mental Health, Social Media, World News
Warning: This article contains discussion of attempted suicide and visceral description of a bear attack
A man has spoken out about being bitten in the head by a bear and living to tell the tale.
On August 24, 2017, Jeremy Evans ventured into the Alberta woods in Canada to try and catch a ram with horns.
However, instead of finding a ram, the maintenance supervisor ended up running into a bear and nearly lost his life.
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As he was out hunting, Jeremy noticed 'a little brown thing' run right in front of him, 'less than 10 feet away'. He quickly realised it wasn't a ram, but a grizzly bear cub.
Jeremy tells UNILAD he reached down to try and grab his bear spray from his backpack, but before he could find it, the cub's 'momma' came into sight.
In a bid to scare the bear away, Jeremy threw his bicycle at her and struck her, ending up with some 'pretty big holes' in his hand.
The bear eased off briefly, but then 'came charging back in a second time,' and so Jeremy ran for his life, leaping into a tree.
Jeremy only managed to get five or six feet up before the mom bear 'wrapped her paws around' his right leg.
"She ripped me right out of the tree like it was nothing," he says.
The bear then bit him - the first bite right to his face - and despite him trying to play dead, the momma bear kept attacking Jeremy.
He fought back, sticking his fingers in the bear's eyes and ramming his 'middle and index finger' down the bear's throat, but her hold was too strong.
Grabbing the bear's underbelly, Jeremy briefly managed to get free and picked up his bag, took a photograph of his face and loaded his gun - but then the bear struck again.
He continues: "I heard the sound of ice breaking - the sound I was hearing was her teeth scraping against my skull and just crunching down on it.
"I was in a bad spot, totally screwed."
Jeremy recalls how the bear's claw then 'caught [...] the side of [his] face' and 'peeled everything back' - the mom 'gnawing on the back of [his] skull'.
Eventually, after grabbing the bear's belly again, Jeremy was released from its jaws and immediately grabbed his phone to leave a message for his wife and daughter.
Convinced he wouldn't make it out of the woods alive as a result of his horrifying injuries, Jeremy then pointed his gun at himself, but it didn't go off.
The dad subsequently dragged himself up and 'crawled' onto a trail path, travelling for around six hours after his attack before he ended up reaching his truck and drove to a lodge for help.
Jeremy has since released a memoir titled Mauled: Lessons Learned from a Grizzly Bear Attack, speaking openly about the incident and not just the physical, but mental journey of recovery he's been on since - the dad suffering from severe PTSD.
Jeremy resolves: "Family comes first. [And] asking for psychiatric help is not a sign of weakness. It's a strength.
"I mean, guys are always supposed to be all tough and look after the family. But when you're not mentally fit, you can't do that. So ask for help."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
You can also call 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 at the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline.