Two university wrestlers were injured after being attacked by a grizzly bear at Shoshone National Forest, located to the south-east of Yellowstone National Park in the US state of Wyoming.
Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry surprised the bear while they were out searching for antlers, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said.
The men credited their bond as teammates with helping them survive the attack, which took place on Saturday. Mr Lowry suffered a broken arm and puncture wounds.
“It shook me around and I didn’t know what to do,” Mr Lowry told KSL-TV in an interview on Monday from a hospital in Billings, Montana.
“I curled up in a ball and it got me a few more times.”
Mr Cummings suffered an even more brutal attack as he tried to wrestle the bear off his friend.
“I didn’t want to lose my friend. It was bad,” Mr Cummings told Deseret News.
“There was a big, old bear on top of him. I could have run and potentially lost a friend, or get him off and save him.
“It tackled me, chewed me up a bit, and then when it was done, it wandered off, and I started calling out for Brady to make sure he was all right.”
Tiger attacks leave villagers on edge in India's Ranthambore reserve
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A tiger in Ranthambore National Park. Getty Images -
Rajesh Kumar Yogi, 30, a shopkeeper, says the villages near Ranthambore National Park are suffering more and more tiger attacks. Taniya Dutta / The National -
Rajesh Kumar Yogi, 30, showing his mother Jamuna Devi’s picture. She was attacked and mauled to death by a tiger near her fields in Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan in February 2019. Taniya Dutta / The National -
Jamuna Devi, 45, from Kundera village in Sawai Madhopur, had gone into a field to relieve herself—a common practice in rural India where toilets are scarce – in the wee hours on a winter morning in February 2020. Taniya Dutta / The National -
The 72-year-old security guard at a private college accused the government of prioritising tigers over people for economic reasons because cats are a big tourist attraction and generate billions of rupees each year. Taniya Dutta / The National -
Ram Kalyan Saini, 50, was returning home to his village near Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan from his fields on his motorcycle when he was attacked by a tigress. Taniya Dutta / The National -
The tigress clawed Mr Saini’s left arm and injured his face, leaving him in hospital for days. His wounds took about two months to heal. Taniya Dutta / The National -
Women labourers in the millet fields near Ranthambore National Park say they are scared of tiger attacks and often fear the animals could be lurking in the fields. Taniya Dutta / The National -
The 932-square-kilometre area of deciduous forests and open grass meadows in the western state of Rajasthan is home to more than 80 tigers – the most in its 42-year history. Taniya Dutta / The National -
Tourists watch a female Bengal tiger in Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, India. Getty Images
But the bear was gone only briefly before attacking Mr Cummings again.
“The bear circled back around and it got me again, chewed on me, and that’s when it got my head and cheek,” he said.
“And then it went away again, for whatever reason.”
Mr Cummings then looked for his other teammates while Mr Lowry looked for an area with mobile phone service to call 911.
Two of their wrestling teammates helped Mr Cummings off the mountain. Both he and Mr Lowry were admitted to Billings Hospital, where Mr Cummings underwent surgery.
Neither man was listed as a patient there on Tuesday, a hospital representative said.
Wyoming wildlife officials said they would not try to capture, relocate or kill the bear because it was a surprise attack and because the densely populated bear area makes it difficult to determine which bear attacked the students.
'Our Great National Parks' Netflix documentary - in pictures
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Barack Obama narrates 'Our Great National Parks', which is on Netflix from April 13. All photos: Netflix -
'Our Great National Parks' is an endlessly fascinating and gorgeous exploration of some of the most beautiful and inspiring places on Earth. -
Spanning five continents, it tells the story of the creatures that roam through the world's top national parks. -
Kenya’s Tsavo National Park and Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park feature in the documentary. -
It also explores the waters of Monterey Bay, California, and the eclectic terrain of Chilean Patagonia, to name only a few. -
Obama wants viewers to gaze in wonder and appreciate the innate beauty that these wild spaces have to offer. -
The footage in the documentary is stunning. -
Obama’s narration never comes close to reaching the heights of Sir David Attenborough’s dulcet tones, however. -
In the fifth episode, it focuses on Gunung Leuser, and provides an all-encompassing view of the park’s ecosystem. -
This includes intimate looks at tigers, forest elephants, orangutans and Sumatran rhinos, which are the smallest of the species. -
Obama clearly has a vested interest and emotional connection to the preservation of national parks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
