A Massachusetts man was seriously injured after being attacked by a bear in a Wyoming national park in what he described as the “brutalst tragedy of his life.” However, the Army veteran was incredibly lucky and miraculously survived the attack.
Shane Patrick Burke, a 35-year-old Army veteran from Massachusetts, was hiking Signal Mountain in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last Sunday when he “wanted to take a picture of a great horned owl.”
Burke said he noticed a bear cub nearby and thought “this isn’t good.”
Suddenly, he had an “unexpected encounter” with a mother grizzly bear, who “charged” at him.
He tried to yell at the bear to stop the confrontation.
“It was really unpleasant – they were breaking branches, singing and talking to themselves – all of these things that help prevent ‘surprise encounters’ with brown bears,” Burke said. Said.
“When she jumped on me I turned so my back was on her and I was lying face down with my hands behind my neck supporting myself to keep myself alive,” he said. I have written In an Instagram post.
The grizzly bear first bit and slashed him in the back and right shoulder.
The bear bit Burke’s leg, lifted him up and slammed him to the ground multiple times.
The mother bear allegedly bit her son three times, from his buttocks to the inside of his knees.
“I believe she delivered a fatal bite to my neck. I still had my hands together, my arm protecting my carotid artery. I never let go of my bear spray,” Burke explained.
Suddenly, Burke got lucky and his life was saved.
“She bit the hand behind my neck and at the same time bit into the can of bear spray, which exploded in her mouth,” Burke said. “That saved my life from the first attack. I heard her run away, so I looked up and quickly ran up the hill in the opposite direction.”
After the animal attacked, Burke wrapped an “improvised tourniquet” around his leg to “slow the bleeding”, which he added was “barely movable”.
Burke called 911 and stayed on the phone hoping to triangulate his location.
A rescue helicopter was able to find him and rescue him.
“When the helicopter spotted me, I tried to crawl to a clearing so they could reach me easier,” he said. stated“That’s when the first ranger showed up and began assessing me. Hypothermia was the biggest concern at this point. I was alert and responsive.”
Burke was taken to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, Wyoming, for surgery.
The bear attack was the “most violent” tragedy he’d ever experienced.
Despite having lost a limb to a bear, Burke bears no ill will towards bears.
“I love and respect wildlife, anyone who knows me knows that,” Burke said.
He pleaded with park rangers not to kill the bear because it was “protecting its cubs.”
“What happened on Signal Mountain was the wrong place, the wrong time,” he said. “A mother bear was attacked on Sunday afternoon while trying to protect her cubs.”
Burke noted that despite being a disabled veteran who “has been through gunfire, mortar fire and IED explosions,” the bear attack was “the most violent incident” he’d experienced.
(WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES)
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