Big scare for an American veteran on Sunday, May 19, 2024. Shayne Patrick Burke was traveling through the wild regions of Wyoming (USA) to photograph owls when he said he was attacked by a mother grizzly bear in Grand Teton National Park. Still in shock, the 35-year-old man described the scene in a long Facebook message shared by our colleagues at CNN .
Saved by his bear spray
In a disabled situation, the veteran had just seen a bear cub about fifty yards away when the bear allegedly charged at him. “I held on, screamed and tried to release the bear spray, but she had already closed the hole”, he writes. Surprised, the thirty-year-old turned his back on the animal, which pounced on him. “The first bite and cut was made on my back and right shoulder. I screamed. Then she turned and walked on my back. She bit my leg, picked me up and slammed me to the ground several times.”describes the survivor who had laid on his stomach to try to play dead.
The young man suffered about three bites on each leg and continued to scream, drawing the bear’s attention to his head. “I think she tried to kill me by biting my neck. I still had my hands intertwined and my arms were protecting my carotid arteries. I’ll never let go of the bear spray”, he continues. And that was probably what saved him: “When she bit my hands on the neck, she bit the spray can at the same time and it exploded in her mouth. » Stung, the imposing animal immediately left the stage without asking for rest.
Also read: American teenager attacked by bear while watching YouTube video
Out of danger
Once alone, Shayne Patrick Burke was able to travel to find a network and warn his wife. He then administered first aid himself: “I cut my backpack straps, my camera straps and used my bag straps” to make improvised tourniquets and limit the bleeding, he explained. Immediately alerted, the forest rangers were able to locate the veteran and help him. The man was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital. Quick surgery, man “expected to make a full recovery according to the authorities”.
“I came under shelling, mortar fire and explosions from improvised explosive devices. I am a disabled veteran in the Army Reserve”, recalled the miraculous in his Facebook message. But according to him this attack “is the most violent thing I have ever experienced […] At that moment, at the top of that little hill, I accepted that I might very well die.”
Now out of danger, the young man asked the authorities not to kill the bear. “She defended her teddy bear”, he wrote on the social network. A few days after this attack, an American teenager was also injured by a bear while at a cabin in Arizona.
