A man from the Lower Mainland is lucky to be alive following a violent encounter with a black bear north of Mackenzie.
Gil Graham sustained serious injuries to his left thigh shortly after arriving at a project site that had been closed for two years.
In an interview with MyNechakoValleyNow.com Graham said the incident occurred shortly after opening the camp.
“I started to look at some propane cylinders after looking around and while I think my head was down the bear must have come up to the propane tanks so that when I stood up against it to leave he was close enough to the tanks and below my sightline. I did not know he was there.”
“I see the bear, he sees me as he is five feet away at best and his ears are back, paws and head are down and he is looking right at me and I am looking right at him so maybe it was a startle response. I am starting to yell bear a little louder than I normally would and calling for help. I backed off about a 90-degree arch to try and create a pathway and continue on his way.”
“He stood up with his paws down lunged at my thigh and clamped down on it – pushing me to the ground and away we went.”
Graham stated the key there was people around him that could help to relay that he had a flashlight in his pocket hammering on the bear’s nose while his co-worker came with a huge boulder hitting him on the haunches causing the bear to back away eventually letting go while maintaining focus on the workers.
“My co-workers got behind closed doors inside of an ATCO building and he came at me a second time when back at my leg and then Nick got back in his truck with the horn blaring and the lights on roaring towards the animal while he is being showered with fist-sized rocks. We got him to let go again and backed off far enough that they got the truck between me and the bear and the building so that I was shielded somewhat.”
After several co-workers came to his aid, which led to the bear getting shot, Graham was transported to a nearby medical clinic before being airlifted to Prince George.
“So the attack happened at about 10 pm and I was in the Tsay Keh Dene medical clinic by midnight and they had a telemedicine conference with a physician somewhere else where they showed pictures of my leg and the injuries to it so he could suggest to them the best approach they could take and they arranged for medivac. I was airlifted to Prince George by 11 in the morning the next day.”
“It was difficult telling my wife because you want them to know you are going to be fine. However, they can’t see you they are only hearing you on the phone so I tried to downplay it at first for comfort and my hospital stay was two weeks. The company offered to fly them up and take care of them and visit me but with COVID times because it wasn’t a loss of life or limbs I would not have been entitled to guests anyway.”
He is facing a year-long recovery and a Go Fund Me page has been set up to help with expenses.
“It’s going to take four to six months to heal the muscle wound and the first six to eight weeks of that requires every other day changing the vacuum drainage bandage, which accelerates the healing and keeps things cleaner. Towards the end of that six months, I will start overlapping with some physio to get strength back in the muscle and I am told that could take a year or so of physio.”
So far, nearly $19,000 has been raised and a link to donate can be found here.