Grisly photos show North Carolina runner who narrowly survived bear attack
A North Carolina jogger narrowly avoided being badly mauled by a mother bear defending her cub earlier this month — and there are photos showing he survived with just gnarly scratches to prove it.
Bill Palas of Asheville says he was running on the trails in Pisgah National Forest, which borders his yard, on the morning of July 7 when he crossed paths with a bear cub, according to WLOS.
“When you see a cub like that, there’s usually a mom around,” he recalled.
“So I go and I turn around real quick – and all of a sudden, there I see the momma bear.”
The experienced trail runner waved his hands and yelled as the large female bear charged him, he told the outlet.
She diverted down a hill before returning with her claws in full force.
“She stands up on her back legs, and here’s this head – her head must have been the size of a basketball – and it’s right here,” Palas said of the terrifying moment.
“She takes her claw, and she rakes it across my face and chest.”
Photos from after the encounter show Palas reclining with his face covered in bloody gashes.
He said the bear’s claws felt like razor blades slicing into his flesh.
Ever after getting a few swipes in, the bear wasn’t done.
When Palas tried to use his arm to shove her away, his limb ended up in the mother bear’s mouth, he said.
Finally, the animal knocked him on his back and sauntered over to her cub – leaving Palas the perfect window of escape.
“I was running on adrenaline and shock. I got 20 yards or so down the steep hill, and I surveyed myself. You know, ‘How bad am I?’ All I know is blood is just gushing out everywhere,” he recalled.
Palas eventually made it back to his house, where his wife rushed him to the hospital.
“They brought in a special facial plastic surgeon, you know, ’cause they saw I was all tore up on the face,” he said of the ordeal.
“He spent three hours sewing on me.
“I just feel so lucky that I’m together. I mean, seeing these 3-inch razor claws, I could see them this close to my face. Man, it’s just surreal,” he continued.
Palas added that his near-miss will not deter him from enjoying the trails in the future – and that his experience might even become a sort of superpower.
“It’s kind of like lightning rarely strikes someone — but it struck me this time,” he said.
“I definitely have some wilderness street cred now ’cause, how many people do you know that’s been attacked by a bear?”
Palas’ survival story is welcome news after the horrifying death of a beloved Kansas teacher who is believed to have been mauled by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park over the weekend.
Amie Adamson’s remains were found in the Buttermilk Trail area Saturday.
Park officials confirmed that grizzly trackers were spotted near her body.
