3 Grizzly Tales

The adult grizzly bear can grow more than eight feet tall and weigh more than 1,500 pounds. While on a hike in the western states or Alaska, you'd better hope you don't run into one of these unpredictable animals.

Bill Riodan didn't see the bearuntil it was too late. Riodan had been out hunting deer in the Alaskan woods. On his way home, he came to a big spruce tree lying on the ground. He set his gun down and began to climb over the fallen tree. As he did so, a huge paw reached up from the other side of the log. Riodan felt panic rising in his chest. He was perched right over the den of a grizzly bear! With a quick swipe , the bear dug her claws into Riodan's back and pulled him down to the ground.

There was nothing Riodan could do. The bear began to rip open his body. She took bite after bite from his arms, neck, and back. She ate chunks of flesh the size of fists. In effect, the bear was eating him alive!

Within a few minutes, Riodan passed out. When he awoke, the bear was still there. Now her two cubs were poking at him. Riodan tried to get up, but as soon as he moved, the mother bear pounced on him again. She grabbed him by the leg and shook him, crushing his leg bone between her jaws.

Again Riodan passed out. The next time he woke up, it was night. He didn't know if the bears had gone away or were just sleeping.Slowly, quietly, he crawled away. He dragged himself to a creek . Hours later, friends found him there, inching his way downstream.

Riodan's body was covered with 42 wounds. Muscles had been torn from his shoulders, arms, and neck. His leg was badly mangled . He was lucky to be alive. Doctors said it was the creek that saved him. The mud and leaves there helped seal the wounds and stop the bleeding.

Bill Riodan's brush with death came in the fall of 1908. Riodan was not the first person to be attacked by a bear. And he certainly wasn't the last. Every year or two, someone is killed in a bear attack. Often the killer is a grizzly. These animals, also called Alaskan brown bears, are found throughout the western United States. They are huge creatures. In fact, they are the largest meat-eating animal that lives on land. Standing over eight feet tall, they can weigh up to 1,500 pounds. Sometimes they run away when they see a human being. But sometimes they attack.

Deane and Lorraine Lengkeek found that out the hard way. They were walking through Montana's Glacier National Park on August 30, 1991. As they rounded a bend , they saw a mother grizzly and her two cubs. The Lengkeeks dropped to the ground. They had heard that the best way to avoid a bear attack was to play dead.

But this mama bear was not fooled. She gave a low growl . Then she raced over to Deane Lengkeek. She bit into his side with her enormous yellow teeth. Holding him in her mouth, she shook her head a couple of times. Then she threw him into the air. When he hit the ground, she picked him up again. She began to haul him back into the bushes.

“Oh, dear God, not like this!” he cried out. “Please, not like this!”

Lorraine Lengkeek was terrified. She did the only thing she could think of to do. She ran after the bear, swinging her binoculars over her head. When she got close, she hit the animal's nose with the binoculars. After four blows, the grizzly dropped Deane. Now the bear turned toward Lorraine. Lorraine swung the binoculars again. After this blow, the grizzly finally turned and ran off.

Deane Lengkeek was badly hurt, but he survived. He owed his life to his wife's brave actions. Perhaps Lorraine was successful because she targeted the nose. It is a very sensitive part of a bear's body. Bears don't have good eyesight. They can't hear well, either. So they rely heavily on their keen sense of smell. They need their long noses to help them sniff out danger and food. Sometimes when a bear's nose is hurt, the bear retreats. A few people have fought off bears by jamming their fingers into bears' nostrils.

Sometimes, though, bears have been almost impossible to stop.In 1905, three Alaskans began shooting at a grizzly that attacked them. Thirteen times they struck the bear with bullets. Again and again the bear fell down. But each time it got back up. Finally, after the 14th shot, the bear dropped to the ground for good .

Claude Barnes had his rifle in his hands when a grizzly came at him. Barnes was out hunting in the Wyoming woods. He had just taken a shot at a small bear. The mother bear heard its yelp . She came charging toward Barnes. Said Barnes, “I shot at her heart while she ... stood towering over me.” That didn't stop her, though. She dropped onto all fours and kept coming. “I reloaded as quickly as I could and fired into her face. She was right on me ... she grabbed the gun barrel with her teeth [and] knocked me down with her body. ... Her great jaws [sank] into my side just below my right shoulder. ... A huge foot was placed on my shoulders and I could smell the hot breath of the tremendous brute.”

Barnes had fired two bullets at the bear at very close range. Yet neither one seemed to slow the animal down. Barnes survived only because the bear suddenly turned to check on her wounded cub. Knowing that grizzlies don't climb trees, Barnes scrambled up a nearby pine. The bear tried to reach him, but she couldn't. So she stood on the ground, clawing angrily at the trunk. Barnes clung to that tree for hours. At last, his bullets took effect. The bear collapsed, dead, a few feet from the tree.

Game warden Al Johnson also knew that grizzlies don't climb trees. In 1973 Johnson wanted to take some pictures of bear cubs. He climbed 15 feet into a tree, sure that he would be safe there. But he was wrong. A mother grizzly with three cubs came along. When the mother detected Johnson's presence, she became enraged . She flew at the tree with fury. She managed to get high enough to pull Johnson to the ground. She bit his shoulder, arms, and elbow. Then she tore a patch of skin off his scalp . He heard her teeth scraping against his skull. At last, the bear turned away. Rather than finish Johnson off, she chose to lead her cubs away to safety.

Could any of these attacks have been prevented? Perhaps. Bears usually don't pounce unless they feel threatened. Claude Barnes provoked his attacker by shooting at her cub. Bill Riodan upset his bear by coming too close to her nest. The problem is that it doesn't take much to threaten a bear.

Just going into the woods can do it. That's all Deane and Lorraine Lengkeek did. And it's all Al Johnson did. So the next time you're out enjoying a nature walk, keep your fingers crossed that you don't cross paths with a grizzly.