US coast guard rescues man who struggled with grizzly bear for weeks at Alaska camp

After being repeatedly attacked by a grizzly bear that kept returning to his secluded hut in the forest, from which he had no way of contacting the outside world, a man in Alaska was rescued, injured but alive. It has the feel of a suspense film or a page-turning novel. 

Man rescued after bear attack in Alaska

The ordeal of the unnamed individual was described in the New York Times as "a weeklong ordeal that could pass for a sequel to The Revenant." It was only until a passing coast guard helicopter spotted the man anxiously gesturing for help and writing SOS and "Help me" on the roof of his tin house that it came to an end.

The report said that the man in his 50s or 60s was alone at a mining camp some 40 miles from the distant town of Nome when he was attacked by a bear, which dragged him down to a river. The man, who was equipped with a revolver, managed to flee but was subsequently subjected to a series of attacks over the course of a week. According to The Times, Lt Cmdr Jared Carbajal, one of the pilots of the coast guard helicopter, said that the bear kept coming back every night and he hadn’t slept in a few days.

He was only discovered after the helicopter's trajectory had been altered slightly to avoid some clouds. The chopper noticed the man's plight and landed quickly to locate him with a bandaged leg and waving a white flag. His tin shack's door had also been ripped off.

Man's weeklong struggle with the bear 

According to The Times, co-pilot Lt AJ Hammac said, "We don’t really come across people in the middle of nowhere. He was kind of struggling. When we came around, he was on his hands and knees waving a white flag. He definitely looked like he had been out there for a while."

The helicopter was flying from Kotzebue to Nome on a mission to transport scientists to the coast to search for dead whales, walruses, and seals. Cdr Carbajal said, "If we would have been in the next river valley over,” Cdr Carbajal said, “we would have totally missed him." The man is currently on the cure following his tragedy, said reports.

As the federally protected animals expand into new areas and the number of people living and recaptioning in the region grows, grizzly bears have been involved in an increasing number of conflicts with humans in the American west. In Montana, a cyclist was murdered by a bear in July, and a guide was killed while fishing along the Yellowstone national park border in April.

Picture Credit: Twitter@USCG/Unsplash