Grizzly Bear Attack Survivers Share Their Stories | Human Prey | Wonder

my head was in its mouth and just literally just trying to break my skull it was it was eating me it's everyone's worst nightmare being eaten alive by wild animal in this episode three terrifying stories of people who've been savaged by bears [Music] what's it like to become human prey [Applause] in the summer of 2005 Johann Otter tried to save his daughter from the jaws of an angry grizzly while hiking in Montana it really felt like we're trying to rip my head off and I remember thinking okay one more bites and I'm done [Music] Glacier National Park one of America's last great wilderness areas it's home to the nation's most feared predator the grizzly bear [Music] every year Grizzlies claimed the lives of people who get too close Johanna otter and his daughter Jenna are here for a hiking vacation to celebrate her graduation and it's kind of cool that your daughter still wants to go on a senior trip you know and with that to go into the mountains but today's ambitious hike will test them in more ways than they can possibly imagine survival in this wilderness is brutal this female grizzly is dangerous she has two cubs and will attack anything that comes near them dr. Barry Gilbert knows just how deadly these bears can be he himself was badly mauled by a grizzly grizzly bears have the smallest young of any of the mammals they can weigh two or three pounds when they're young so they're really vulnerable this is what has caused the female to evolve into being suicidally aggressive she lays out her all for those cubs it's too early for other hikers to be on the trail I sort of had this underlying nervousness in the morning and the evening hours are the prime feeding times for animals so that's when they're going to be out and about a lot more I have to take a video with this dad we've got a long way to go by oh han and Jenna are seasoned hikers the precaution I knew when hiking was just to make noise we knew to not be too quiet although we didn't know how loud to actually be we talked continuously during that time and we made sure we looked around as much as possible sorry mom wanted me to have a talk with you about keeping to your studies they also carry a can of bear spray this is their only defense against a predator attack we didn't have it on our belt it was just in the backpack you know really thinking that you're not gonna be able to have to use - huh it's not gonna happen to you they climb higher and further away from human habitation if anything should happen to them Johanna and Jenna are on their own Grizzly's normally steer clear of people they can pick up a scent from over two miles away but the wind is blowing down the mountain away from the bear and that would just negate the Bears best warning system which is its nose its sense of smell and that's almost a perfect storm scenario the grizzly is now in a deadly collision course a surprise there is an angry bear and angry bears and aggressive bear and a dangerous bear high above the lake the view is spectacular Johanna and Jenna fall silent a mistake that could cost their lives there's a bend in the trail you can't see around it but you don't expect anything to be around it which I guess is a bad assumption to make [Music] in front of me is a mother grizzly bear followed by two cubs right behind her I thought like I'm going to die if you turn and run you've immediately put a hamburger sign across your back [Music] to save his daughter Johan puts his own life on the line and it's something instinctual it's not something you actually think about the best went into my thigh the bear bites deep into your hands led again and again right down to the bone it wasn't like was holding on to my leg and just kind of being in there no it was kind of a now if he wants to live your hand has to break loose but there's only one way out down I decided to jump off the trail was about 20 25 feet into some bushes my I was already bleeding or something like that at that point so something must've gotten into my face oh because the animal went at me like this over must have been one of the claws [Music] than you see the can of bear spray that my dad had in the side pocket of his backpack [Music] I pick up the can but I didn't know how to work the can you can't really stop and breed instructions at that point out of time and options Jana leaps into the unknown Johanna has no ideas daughter has jumped and I see the bare [ __ ] it's hit back again looks down at me by being active she might have interpreted that he was doing a circle around to get at comes hell-bent on finishing them off the bear charges down the mountain never felt I've seen anything as strong and fast in my life there's one big piece of muscle it was lifting me up nearly out of the bushes [Applause] bears will sometimes try to flip people over to get at their face when they're going after it was with me you know away from Jenna basically next thing I remember falling around good steep falls hit 30 feet or something yo hands luck holds he's cheated death once more but by chance Johannes landed on the same ledge as Jenna and then when I had landed down and here's that bear it's still you know with me trying to protect his daughter Johannes brought the angry grizzly straight to her now the bear moves in for the kill johanna otter and his daughter Jenna of escape to savage grizzly by throwing themselves off a mountain hot on their trail the bear is going in for the kill the animal just wants to get rid of yet to neutralize you to making no threat door comes Genna tries to hide but yo hand faces the predator head-on [Music] but I just wanted to make sure it was you know away from Jennifer your hand grabs for the nearest weapon but it turns to dust and I still remember those two eyes amber brown looking straight into my eyes no feelings looking there straight in the eye and continuing to look at them is generally aggressive really started trumping down to my arm it was just written it apart we don't have the physical structure to stand up to even a friendly wrestling match with a bear let alone when they're ticked off and a mom is feeling defensive about her cubs you have this helpless feeling of I can't do anything but you want to help but you can't do anything the bear goes for the killer bite to his head is it's going after a person just like it would another bear they're aiming for the mouth and the face because they're trying to disable their opponents weapons that's the teeth that's their jaws the Grizzlies canines are about 2 inches long made for gripping and tearing the molars are flat for crushing and grinding we felt like was trying to rip my head off and the tooth really went into my skull cuz feel this bone cracking and I remember thinking okay one more bite and I'm done and then I look down on my go one more fall I'm dead but I also knew that if I would stay there Lupita determined not to die Johan breaks free and leaps into the void once again a small rocky ledge saves them from certain death 1,400 feet below and now looked out and a bear kind of looking over the ledge basically I couldn't get to me I was too steep I said like [Music] but the grizzly isn't done yet it can still smell human flesh it was just fear of being found which you know is inevitable [Music] I heard the bear breathing and got that stomach churning like oh no kind of feeling and I must have screamed we're silent in the world you've tried to keep this animal with you as long as possible to keep it away from your daughter and and still Jenna is trapped lower jaw was the one that ripped open my mouth and upper neck my hope head was in its mouth okay I'm dead get it over with this could be the end of the line for Jenna [Music] johanna otter has escaped a savage grizzly attack by jumping off the mountain there has now turned on his 18 year old daughter [Music] face to face with death jenna takes a huge gamble I just tried to be as still as possible so that it would think that I was dead the playing dead routine works if you can quit moving and if you can remain as silent as possible that tells the bear okay this person is no longer a threat you can leave Jenna keeps completely still and silent your hand has no idea what is happening [Music] I don't hear anything anymore I mean could mean one or two things one the animal left it's my daughter alone or two she's dead Johann doesn't dare make a sound if the bear has gone any noise might bring it back he waits two agonizing minutes then decides to take a chance that's probably the best for Mike sorry it's still it's still good yeah Moshe okay her voice was very strong sound a very healthy pretty bad and I was going for my head and all I feel was just bone bone bone Oh like okay I'm not gonna feel anymore that's not good it's still too early for many hikers to be this far up the trail Johan uses nylon jacket to protect his exposed scalp he needs urgent medical attention adrenaline triggered by the attack is draining away he is going into shock I was getting a little woozy I was just shaking I was so cold [Music] Johanna and Jenna's cries are finally heard by other hikers two hours later they're airlifted to the hospital new hands spine and neck are broken his scalp needs a skin graft he has three broken ribs a broken nose and a punctured eye it takes nine operations in many months for johan to recover [Music] jeanna also requires surgery begins University wrapped in bandages yeah you kind of feel guilty in a way you know because you've taken your daughter into a dangerous area shouldn't have done that that's when you get a little emotion like you know shoot I'm doing this to all these people didn't care after the attack experts agree the bear was acting naturally trying to defend her cubs they thought she posed no further danger to people so she was not put down [Music] for thousands of years bears were America's supreme predators from Alaska to Mexico they were top of the food chain [Music] Native Americans were in awe of their ferocious temper and huge strength some tribes worshipped bears they wore their skin and claws as symbols of power but killing a bear meant hunting in groups increased the chance of coming back alive European settlers however were far less cautious they saw bears as a dangerous past that preyed on her livestock convinced their guns would protect them they set out to kill as many as possible and this was the age of the homesteader and for those people if they lost a cow if they lost a couple sheep you know it it was a huge cost for them in the mid-1800s prospectors pushed deeper into bear country looking for gold [Music] scavenging bears soon learned that where there were people there were food scraps very occasionally bears also developed a taste for human flesh [Music] today there are still freak incidents when bears see humans as prey in the summer of 1997 Kelly mikanos life was shattered when a black bear went from one of North America's most horrific bear rampages it was just trying to e me [Music] liard river Hot Springs British Columbia a popular place to relax and unwind it's home to many black bears who feed on food scraps that people leave behind in rare cases they can take that terrible next step it's bears that have been both situated to people and then food conditioned that have injured or preyed on people like other bears in the park this male feeds on human leftovers as well as plants and insects and the occasional young animal an opportunistic predator is almost always hungry a potentially dangerous situation 13-year old Kelly McConnell and his mother Patty are moving from Texas to Alaska to start a new life they're breaking a long trip with a well-earned rest I'm just gonna relax after a long day of driving we just wanted to go to the hot springs itself and relax even though they know there are bears in the area Kelly and his mother decide to explore the park and actually did come in at that time I wish that I could see one and the mother corrected me and told me that I did not wish I would see one Kelly and his mother have no idea of the danger they're in it's so rare the bear can smell prey and it's closing in on them a Pradesh isaq by and large is a slow approach toward you constant following of you if you like waiting for its tactical advantage to come in and and get on you let's go Kelly [Music] Patty and Kelly have walked into a death trap frozen with fear she has no idea what to do Kelly hi mom here's a bear yeah right I didn't believe what she was saying she's always fooling around I couldn't I didn't know what to believe but it's no joke if it's not making any noise if it's not making a commotion and it starts coming at you this bears in a predatory mode and you've got to start thinking about what can I do to defend myself [Applause] the 400-pound beast viciously attacks Patti both she and Kelly are staring death in the face this bear could grip them apart in seconds in a nature park in British Columbia 13-year old Kelly McConnell has put his life on the line to save his mother from the jaws of a bear I was screaming for help and there was no one around felt so helpless a bloodthirsty beast tears into Patty it was trying to eat my mother bears don't always kill completely kill their prey before eating they'll just start and they do that with big-game animals and it's it's pretty well known that they do it with people too Kelly desperately tries to save his mother but then in a heartbeat the bear turns on him I can just remember think that I hope that I save my mother's life but but I remember they can't bizarre nightmare Kali has become the beasts next meal the bear locks its powerful jaws around his waist and lifts him off the ground to fill up the bones crushing in my body like I was pretty sure I was going back Kellie's about to pass out but suddenly the animal drops [Music] he falls on his front keeping his vital organs safe from the Bears teeth and claws they've just began modeling me from the backside it would just bite into my back and just tear tear my skin it was it was eating me Kelly and his mom are so far from the hot springs there's a danger no one will hear their screams but one man does [Music] great kitchen a truck driver races to the scene and heroically takes on the man-eater himself this that's obsessively hungry if not starving to death and they see other people at interfere as trying to take the carcass Whitlam the Bears reaction is explosive [Music] it turns on kitchen and begins to eat him alive dear sometimes go into what they call surplus killing they get into a herd of sheep and it's so easy to kill them they just knock them over left and right way more than they're ever going to be able to eat Kelly is too badly wounded to do anything to help kitchen is pinned beneath the raging animal he can do nothing to stop it ripping him to pieces Tonie doubt the trucker from Alberta here's kitchen screaming and comes to help I couldn't believe what I was seeing bear was on there a kitchen mauling him to death and it stared at me I was looking at it straight in the eyes get him dead square in the eyes it's claws come up and just miss me because I jump back tony is lucky the bear doesn't go after him instead it finally kills ray kitchen I heard both scream his last few or try to scream you know the last few thought or sounds that his voice could make and I screamed oh my god oh my god and that was at race throat has been ripped open they're getting the neck because they're going for the windpipe and for the vertebrae Kelly's wounds are so bad he can't move patty is alive but very weak she told me that I should take care of my sisters and [Music] and then she told me she loved me Patty loses consciousness other people are drawn by the shouts they desperately try to keep the furious bear away from Kelly and his mom paramedic Ingrid Bailey joins the frantic rescue effort mr. kitchen was just flat out on the ground missing a big chunk of his neck and at that point I stopped trying to do anything for mr. kitchen and went over and aided the other two folks who had already been attacked Ingrid does what she can even though she could be next the bear is only a few feet away they could strike at any moment the only way to end the carnage is by killing the bear but this vicious predator is not done yet with its bloody rampage it has the taste for human flesh and wants more a black bear has savagely attacked paddy and Kelly McConnell killed the man who tried to help them now the bloodthirsty bear is on the rampage and heading towards the Hot Springs there's panic but running bodies trigger the Bears killer instinct the attraction of moving preys overrides the feeding they'll feed later the massacre won't end until someone kills the crazed beast Ingrid Bailey is still trying to revive Patti when the bear attacks another victim we caught up with a group of college students and the last student in line slipped on the boardwalk which is a little damp from the light rain and the bear caught up with that person that mauled him as well finally someone arrives with a gun the bear is shot dead but it's too late for Patty McConnell she dies of her horrific injuries her 13 year old son Kelly just manages to pull through both my lungs were punctured they said there was over 100 centimeters of stitches I had suffered a few broken ribs three of my vertebrae were broken [Music] an attack like this is very rare two people are dead and two seriously injured but incredibly Kelly doesn't hate the animal that took his mother's life I feel like the bear they didn't try to do anything that wasn't normal for it to do I mean normally bears don't attack people and and then probably had no choice but to attack or else die from starvation itself [Music] the horrific events at liard park showed just how helpless we are when these predators turn on us without a gun the death toll could have been much higher killing a bear in full attack mode is difficult even with modern weapons back in the 1800s it was much harder as Michigan hunter and trapper Franklin Devereaux found out in 1883 when he tried to shoot a grizzly in the time it took to reload his gun the enraged bear charged and killed him placing a head shot unless the bear is a mobile is just about impossible a skull is very hard to the hammer you'd have trouble breaking up and those days Bears were often only injured and a wounded bear is extremely dangerous we stop at nothing to kill its attack the invention of the repeating rifle finally gave man the upper hand when we went from single-shot muskets to lever action repeating rifles that was a huge blow to grizzly bears and it was both combination of firepower how fast you could shoot and also the power of a weapon hunting bears became a popular sport they were killed in a thousands grizzly bear numbers plummeted and today they are protected by law but has more hunters and hikers venture into the last remaining wilderness violent encounters still happened and when an angry bear attacks even a modern weapon may not save you in the summer of 2001 Pastor Johnny McCoy found a gun wasn't enough to protect him from a furious grizzly determined to see him dead and she was literally just trying to break my skull pastor Johnny McCoy and church deacon Gary Koro our old friends we've been hunting together for years they're on a two-week hunting trip in the Alaskan wilderness we was going moose hunting to have the meat for the winter for the following year that's what we eat that's the food for the family they are well aware of the dangers lurking in the woods while tracking their prey they soon notice signs of Grizzlies makes me absolutely nervous walking through the woods knowing that there are bear there knowing that we are in their territory this scat belongs to a female grizzly she has Cubs nearby McCoy and coral trekked further into the Bears territory unlike hikers they make as little noise as possible hunters are probably more prone to bump into bears than other people because they're moving quietly McCoy takes a break coral presses on alone he's much more likely to be attacked coral is walking quietly the Grizzly won't see or hear him until it's too late it was probably just out there with its Cubs all of a sudden here's these people so to mod grizzly you see that as a threat McCoy meanwhile hurries to catch up with Coral suddenly something tears out the trees it's racing towards Coral she ran right out within ten feet in front of me in my mind I said it's a bear McCoy can't shoot he could hit Coral by the time his friend hears a grizzly it's too late and turned my head and looked around all I could see was the mouth of a bear and it was wide open [Music] [Applause] I just thought that the Bears gonna kill me today I'm gonna go be with the Lord at first Quarles backpack shields him from the deadly claws the bear was just trying to get the pack out of the way to go I'm thinking my buddy is well you know my best friend's gonna be killed something cat what do I do but coral doesn't panic incredibly he pulls his gun out from under him and points it blindly over his shoulder it wasn't an easy thing to do I squeezed the trigger and it was instant relief but a second later coral here is a terrifying scream church deacon Gary coral has been attacked by a grizzly he shot the bear making it let go now the enraged beast turns on corals hunting buddy Johnny McCoy when theirs are injured during an attack it seems that pain is a stimulus to attack harder McCoy reacts with lightning speed and I just took my gun I thought oh my goodness and shoved it in her now the grizzly bites down shut that gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger there was nothing absolutely and then she just swatted out away the grizzly leaps on the koi with a vengeance biting deep into his arm and shoulder never any more agonizing screams of horror than the screams of I heard him and first thing that she did was to to by break my arms and nine places a [Applause] Grizzlies jaws can exert over 750 pounds of force it's like being hit by a sledgehammer Koral can't shoot in case he hits McCoy you can only watch as the bear tears his friend apart I could hear the bone crunches I could actually hear him break I seem to even be able to hear the flesh being ripped off of his bones McCoy can't fight anymore his arms are badly mauled the Grizzly now lunges for his head the death blow and all I could smell was her breath there's the most awful stench I've ever spelled my life and I thought okay you know god this is it you know or what I'm ready this is it and I just quit I just quit McCoy's body goes limp and the bear turned around it looked at [Music] suddenly the bear runs off thinking about one second he must have covered 100 George he was clear out of sight I never fired a shot it was so quick McCoy is in bad shape I'd already resigned the fact I was not gonna make it I could have bled to death Johnny both his arms are badly injured the scalp is shredded his ear is torn off when I hangs from its socket coral must act quickly to save his friend well we have lots of game sacks so I took the game sacks and put his scalp back on as good as I could and put his eyeball back in his head and stuffed easier up in there and tied the game sacks on him and when I got done I looked at him and I thought oh my I thought how am I ever gonna get him to stand up [Music] McCoy can't see anything and they've lived there cellphone back at the camp it takes the injured hunters three hours to get there eventually they are airlifted to the hospital emotionally I'm still dealing with that it's tough if I'm under a lot of stress my wife has to wake me up because I you know I'm I'm finally there all over again I woke up two times that night thinking about this bear on my back [Music] with the bear tearing him apart bones crunching sure you don't ever forget that the grizzly bear was later found dead of the single gunshot wound thousands of people encounter bears every year but attacks are unusual [Music] it's most likely one of two causes one it's a predatory incident and that happens with both black bears and grizzly bears and then the second thing is defense of personal space when bears do strike it can have a profound and lasting effect on those who are lucky enough to survive in the blink of an instance your life can completely be changed without you having any say and what happens you just go out and live every day like it's your last day because it might be just never know I will never ever be the same again in a tremendous way I don't take the wildlife for granted I don't take grizzly bears for granted anymore despite their close brush with death many survivors don't blame the animals I have no ill feelings towards risk-adverse whatsoever I think they're incredible animals when you're going to a country that still has bristly bears in it it's it's just beautiful to see but as we encroach ever further into bear territory there will still be times when we become human brain you [Music]

Channel: Wonder

Views: 2,412,371

Keywords: wild animals, big cats, human prey, animal attack documentary, bear attack, animal attacks, wild animal attack, Grizzly Bear Attack, animal attack survival stories, animal attack survivor documentary, animal attack survival documentary, Human Prey S1, human prey full episodes, human prey wonder, Wonder, wonder channel, wonder survival stories, wonder survival series, human prey season 1 episode 3

Id: YVtJe2E8C8Y

Length: 48min 7sec (2887 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 03 2019