B.C. man describes bear attack: 'I'll never forget the clamping force of the bear's jaw'
It’s a moment forever seared in Gil Graham’s mind.
"I’ll never forget the clamping force of the bear’s jaw on my thigh because it was so intense, so strong, enough to make you realize he could crush your leg if he wanted to,” Graham explained.
The Metro Vancouver man survived a terrifying bear attack in Northern B.C.
The bear came after him not just once but twice.
It happened May 31 at a small mining exploration camp in a remote area north of MacKenzie.
Graham says he's encountered dozens of bears in his years of working in remote areas, but never anything like this.
He was working outside to open up the camp and when he turned around, he came face-to-face with a startled black bear. He put up his hands and stepped away, but the bear followed him and attacked.
"Ears back, paws down, looking at me, I’m looking at him. Five feet of space," Graham explained in an interview with CTV News.
"He’s, pushing me to the ground... I’m screaming - top of my lungs."
Graham said at times he felt helpless: "There’s nothing you can do. Just the power of the beast."
Still, with his leg badly bleeding, Graham did what he could to fight the bear off, using his metal flashlight to hit the animal. But the bear wouldn't leave.
When co-workers tried to help him, the bear went after them too. When they sought safety in a trailer, the bear came back for Graham.
"Of course his second approach was scary because if he’d gone somewhere else on me, things would have been considerably worse," Graham recalled.
Co-workers continued their desperate attempts to scare off the bear, throwing rocks and yelling.
"My colleague got in a pickup truck, lights on, horn blaring... he backed off enough so my colleague could get the truck between me and the bear," Graham explained.
Finally, someone in the camp shot and killed the animal. It's something Graham says is sad but was necessary.
"Everybody was still at risk while they were trying to help me. So that’s how it had to turn out," he explained.
Graham was treated remotely and then flown to hospital in Prince George where he underwent two surgeries for a deep leg wound.
He says he's healing well and is grateful for the help of his colleagues and the medical staff who treated him.
Friends have set up an online fundraiser to assist with any unexpected medical expenses as he recovers. He says any money not needed by him will be donated to assist with remote medical programs or training.
Graham says after 42 years working in the back country, he had been getting ready to call it a career.
He says he probably should have retired just a little sooner.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.