A Campbell River man who survived a brutal grizzly bear encounter says the wild animal just kept coming at him in a methodical attack.
The attack on Monday north of Powell River left Colin Dowler with horrifying injuries.
From his bed at Vancouver General Hospital, Dowler told CTV News he had been hiking and cycling on a trail in the Ramsey Arm area when he came across the bear on the trail.
He put his backpack and bike between them, but the bear kept coming towards him.
“It wasn’t like a wild lunging attack or anything. It came with kind of methodical powerful, powerful swats,” he said. “It kind of grabbed me by the stomach and pushed me down, dragged me towards a ditch, going maybe 50 feet. I tried eye-gouging it away, but didn’t really work."
He tried playing dead, but the bear began chewing on him as he screamed in pain.
“I’m amazed I don't have any broken bones because it sounded like it was grating my bones up," he said.
Fighting back, Dowler stabbed the bear in the neck with a buck knife, and it backed off.
Dowler dragged himself to his bike and managed to cycle seven kilometres to a road-building camp where workers ran to help him. They were able to stabilize him as they waited for an air ambulance.
He was left with extensive lower body injuries and lacerations, say doctors, and almost lost a leg.
Conservation officers shot the animal Tuesday.
- Jon Manchester, Castanet
