John Chelminiak, 57, a city council employee in Bellevue, Washington, was mauled by the black bear at the end of the driveway to his holiday home in Lake Wenatchee, Washington.

He had been out walking his dogs when the bear struck.

His wife Lynn Semler called 911 and said: “My husband has been attacked by a bear. He’s at the bottom of the driveway.”

In the background Mr Chelminiak could be heard saying he was dying.

He suffered wounds to the upper part of his body, and underwent surgery in Seattle where he is recovering.

His wife, who ran to help him, said: “I thought at first it was a black dog, and then just a couple strides down I realised it was a bear and John had been yelling bear, bear.”

The female black bear, thought to be about 10-years-old and without cubs, was killed a few hours after the attack.

via Man cried ‘I’m dying’ during black bear attack – Telegraph.

SEATTLE – The wife of a Bellevue city councilman who was mauled by a black bear near Lake Wenatchee Friday night is now talking about the attack.

John Chelminiak, 58, is recovering from puncture wounds and injuries to his head and upper body at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Chelminiak was spending the weekend with his wife at their vacation home. He was walking their dogs when he was attacked by the bear.

Chelminiak was able to yell a warning to his wife.

“I was in the house, again we were just finishing unpacking,” said Cheminiak’s wife, Lynn Semler. “I heard somebody calling out, and it didn’t sound like John.”

“I went out through the garage with my flashlight and as I opened the garage door what I thought was a large, um, dog lept in front of me,” recalled Semler.

That large dog was actually the bear.

While Semler comforted her husband, she called 911.

“I explained to them that my husband had been attacked by a bear.”

She warned her daughter to stay inside and lock the door. The bear was still just a few hundred yards away.

“It was pacing back and forth on the road. And I just kept my flashlight on that bear,” she said.

She stayed with her husband until paramedics arrived.

Agents later shot and killed the bear, which was described as old, very thin and in poor condition. They don’t know why the bear attacked Chelminiak, the bear did not have any cubs.

Chelminiak was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. His father, his sister, and his wife haven’t left his side.

On Sunday Chelminiak was in serious but stable condition and is doing well. He had a special message for his wife.

“(He said) I love you. He wished me a happy anniversary this afternoon. So he remembered today was our 13th anniversary,” said Semler. “He’s made great progress. He just looks good to me. I love him!”

via Wife describes the bear attack on her husband | KING5.com | Seattle Area Local News.

A 57-year-old British Columbia man, who survived a bear attack near Port Alberni, was in good spirits on Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Jay Vinden was saved when his 47-year-old friend fought off the attack at a secluded campsite near Sproat Lake on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“He has got some puncture wounds to his back and his side and his knee and he will be having some plastic surgery to his scalp,” said Anya Nimmon, spokeswoman for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. “But otherwise his spirits are high and he’s in stable condition.”

RCMP Sgt. Kevin Murray said the two men were camping in an area known as Taylor Flats at the west end of Sproat Lake.

“The bear initially attacked the 57-year-old male who was sleeping in a lean-to type shelter,” said Murray. “His 47-year-old friend, sleeping nearby in a tent, was alerted to the attack and was able to fight off the bear.”

Both men, from the Victoria-area community of Sooke, suffered extensive claw wounds in the attack.

Murray said both men had been camping in the area for a number of days and had encountered the 68-kilogram bear around their camp on the first day.

RCMP and B.C. conservation officers are attempting to find the bear to determine if there is any reason it might attack again.

“Police and conservation want to remind people visiting the back country to be extra vigilant in protecting themselves and their camp from wildlife encounters,” said Murray.

via Camper recovering after B.C. bear attack.

COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio — The Cuyahoga County coroner’s office determined that a Lorain County man killed in a bear attack died of multiple wounds.

Spokesman Powell Caesar said today there were no surprises in the autopsy of Brent Kandra.

He said the man suffered numerous sharp wounds and blunt injuries, “what would be expected in a bear attack.”

The black bear that mauled Kandra has been euthanized.

Sam Mazzola, the owner of the bear, had said he would leave the bear’s fate up to the Kandra family; they opted to have the animal killed.

Brent Kandra, 24, had played and worked with Mazzola’s animals about six years.

One of Mazzola’s nine bears attacked Kandra Thursday evening when Kandra was feeding it.

Black bears are considered indigenous to Ohio, but there are nearly as many of them in private ownership as in the wild. State officials Friday said there are 24 black bears registered to private owners in Northeast Ohio — nine of them belonging to Mazzola — and 20 more in other regions of the state.

State officials estimate Ohio’s wild black bear population numbers between 60 and 80. Most live in the southeastern part of the state where it’s less populated and more forested.

via Man killed by bear suffered multiple wounds | cleveland.com.

John Chelminiak, the Bellevue City Council member mauled Sept. 17 by a black bear, has lost an eye as a result of the attack. However, he is making progress recovering from his injuries, city of Bellevue officials said in a release Thursday.

John Chelminiak

Lost eye after a bear attacked him Sept. 17

Chelminiak was walking his dogs outside his family’s vacation home at Lake Wenatchee when the bear attacked. His wife, Lynn Semler, scared the bear away and called 911.

The damage to his left eye was so severe that it had to be removed, but he is recovering sight in his right eye and he has been able to read, officials said. He is expected to regain his sight for all normal activities, including reading, writing and activities like skiing.

Chelminiak is walking around his hospital room at Harborview Medical Center and talking with his family. His doctors are monitoring his progress and he is likely to undergo further surgeries, the city said.

Chelminiak had ophthalmology surgery Sept. 24, and on Monday had surgery for major wounds on the left side of his body. On Wednesday, Chelminiak met with state Department of Fish and Wildlife agent Rich Beausoleil, who tracked down the bear that attacked him. The 10-year-old female bear was shot and killed by agents about three hours after the attack.

Chelminiak posted an update on his Facebook page Thursday that said, “Just a quick update on my progress. Felling (sic) very good this afternoon. My dad and I took a walk outside late this morning. If he had brought the clubs we might have snuck away for a quick nine holes.”

Fellow Bellevue council member Grant Degginger said Chelminiak has come a long way in a short period of time.

“He sounds really good,” Degginger said. “He is not missing a beat, listening to the (council) meetings and wondering what the heck’s going on.”

via Bear attack costs victim his left eye | Local news, sports, weather, blogs, opinion, crime, obituaries, business, directory, marketplace, education, high school, family, shopping, arts, entertainment, movies, books, cooking, auto, real estate, jobs, classifieds, photos, videos, comics, contests, and mountain pass webcams from Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan, Leavenworth, Waterville, Cashmere, Quincy, Entiat, North Central Washington newspaper.

BILLILNGS, Mt — An investigation into a grizzly bear attack on three campers outside Yellowstone National Park last month reveals the bear was in bad health and was struggling to feed herself and her three cubs.

According to a report compiled by several wildlife agencies, 10- to 15-year-old female grizzly was ridden with parasites.

However, according to experts, this alone does not explain why the bear attacked the campers.

Investigators determined that the adult female grizzly consumed an exclusive plant-based diet in the past two years.

An analysis also showed that she had not consumed human-related foods, like garbage or pet food, and that she was not conditioned to human food. Investigators also determined that the adult female grizzly did not have rabies.

Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was killed and two people were hospitalized when the female grizzly attacked them through their tents on the night of July 28.

The bear was captured the day after the attacks at the Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City and later euthanized.

The three yearlings are being cared for at Zoo Montana in Billings.

via Grizzly Bear Attack: Report, Bear Was Sick And Malnourished – ktla.com.

(CBS)  An Arctic explorer survived a polar bear attack.

Sebastian Nilssen, of Norway, says he woke up with his head in the bear’s mouth last week.

Ht told the website Asylum.com, “I grabbed for my shotgun and tried to shoot it but the polar bear had snapped the gun in half. It must have been only a minute I was in his jaws, but it felt like forever.”

As the bear stood up with him in its mouth, a friend shot the bear dead.

Nilssen says he’s not angry at the bear — because it was probably very hungry.

Asylum says, “Nilssen was airlifted to the hospital and underwent three hours of emergency surgery to repair a pierced lung and stem the flow of blood from bite marks on his neck, which were inches from a vital artery. ”

via Man Wakes Up with Head in Polar Bear’s Mouth – The Early Show – CBS News.

The pain is unbearable. He does not much feel like talking, but Darian Baehler knows he is lucky to have his left foot. A rattlesnake bit his leg not once, but twice. He has had two surgeries, so far, to relieve pressure from the swelling. He was moved from intensive care to intermediate care at University Medical Center Brackenridge Tuesday afternoon.

Darian’s father, Todd Baehler, said, “It’s just unbelievable. I could not believe a snake bite could do this much damage. He’s going to be in the hospital another week or so. He’s going to have physical therapy, he’s going to have plastic surgery, he’s going to have a lot of problems.”

It happened Friday, when Baehler and a group of kids were headed home down a wooded path near Southwest Regional Park in Williamson County. His sister Nicole says it got dark all of the sudden. One of their friends unknowingly stepped over a rattlesnake. Soon they all knew.

“It was really loud,” Nicole Baehler said. “Like, you know, like moraccas or whatever, that’s what it sounded like.

Game warden Turk Jones says dusk and dark in the summer are prime time for snakes.

“They’re gonna be out in the evening, 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, the time those kids were walking through here,” Jones said.

Six-year-old Carson Perreault was also in the group. “I wouldn’t have survived it,” Perrault said

Doctors agree, which strikes a chord with Todd Baehler.

“That was scary to me because people walk their dogs back there. People ride their bikes back there,” Baehler said.

Doctors at UMC Brackenridge say they see 40-50 snake bites a year, mostly during the summer months. They say rattlesnake anti-venom runs about $2,000 a vial. Baehler had to have 33 vials. Doctors say that the anti-venom can mean the difference between keeping and losing a limb, and in some cases, life and death. That is why they say anyone who is the victim of a snake bite, no matter how minor, should seek emergency medical treatment.

via Teenager fighting to keep his foot after rattlesnake bites | kvue.com | KVUE News | Austin, TX | Breaking News.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Wildlife officials say a grizzly bear that preyed on campers outside Yellowstone National Park weighed less than average but was in an area with ample food supplies and did not appear to be starving.

Montana officials said Monday that a necropsy has been completed on the female grizzly. The results still are being analyzed.

One person was killed and two were injured during separate attacks by the bear Wednesday at the Soda Butte Campground.

Female grizzlies on average weigh 300 to 400 pounds, but the attacking bear weighed 221 pounds. Her three cubs also were underweight.

Grizzly expert Chris Servheen with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the weight of the bears does not explain the attacks by itself, and the investigation is continuing.

via The Associated Press: Grizzly in triple mauling was light, not starving.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Three grizzly bear cubs whose mother killed one person and mauled two others in a late-night attack at a Montana campground were malnourished and still in their winter coats.

This image provided by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department on Friday July 30, 2010, shows a captured grizzly sow believed to be responsible for the mauling death of one camper and injuring two others near Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The fate of the bear will be determined after DNA tests confirm whether it was responsible for the attacks. (AP Photo/Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department)

Deb Freele, 58, of London, Ontario, Canada recovers at West Park Hospital in Cody, Wyo. on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Freele was attacked by a bear at Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City, Mont., early Wednesday morning. Freele and her husband, Bill, had spent nearly the previous two weeks camping before the incident. (AP Photo/Cody Enterprise, Scott Salisbury) MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PAPER AND PHOTOGRAPHER

This image provided by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department on Friday July 30, 2010, shows a captured grizzly sow believed to be responsible for the mauling death of one camper and injuring two others near Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The fate of the bear will be determined after DNA tests confirm whether it was responsible for the attacks. (AP Photo/Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department)

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The cubs have arrived at their new home at ZooMontana in Billings. Zoo executive director Jackie Worstell said Sunday the two female cubs and one male cub were underweight, possibly explaining their mother’s unusually aggressive behavior.

“It may be an indication of what happened,” Worstell said. “There’s obvious signs of stress and malnourishment. Maybe (the sow) was desperate.”

The year-old cubs each weighed only between 60 and 70 pounds, versus a normal range of 80 to 130 pounds. Wildlife officials are investigating what caused the cubs to be malnourished. Grizzlies are omnivores and eat everything from berries and ants to fish and elk.

Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Mich., was killed and two people were seriously injured when the adult bear ripped into several tents Wednesday at the Soda Creek Campground near Cooke City, an old mining town just outside Yellowstone National Park.

The 300- to 400-pound sow was euthanized Friday after DNA tests linked it to the attacks. Wildlife officials have said she appeared to be healthy, but they intend to further study the body in hopes of explaining her behavior.

Worstell said the cubs will remain in quarantine for at least 30 days to make sure they are disease-free.

The zoo has one other grizzly, a year-old male obtained from Yellowstone National Park that had been seeking food from park visitors. The zoo also has a 10-year-old Eurasian brown bear.

The three cubs aren’t expected to be available for public viewing until fall.

Wildlife officials say the cubs likely participated in the attack on Kammer, and so cannot be released back into the wild having probably learned from their mother’s behavior.

via Grizzly cubs from deadly mauling were malnourished  | ajc.com.