Woman Mauled By Bear Drives Self To Hospital After Walking 1 ½ Miles Back To Car

A woman mauled by a bear drove herself to a hospital after she walked back 1-and-a-half miles back to her car, state troopers said Wednesday. ABC News reports that the incident happened in Alaska Tuesday afternoon. Troopers say Thea Thomas, 57, was attacked by a brown bear while hiking on Heney Ridge Trail in the Cordova area.

The Cordova woman suffered bite injuries to her right arm, right leg, and right side. When she was attacked, she laid in the fetal position, which she believes saved her head and neck. No major arteries or internal organs were damaged. Doctors told her she might need plastic surgery down the road, however.

Peters reveals:

“The trooper told me that when she checked herself into the hospital, he said it was almost like the people who were working on her were more shocked than she was. The trooper said she was very pragmatic and calm about everything.”

Thomas brought her dog and a friend’s dog with her on the hike. They were near a stream with salmon spawning. The dogs took off for a while, came back, then a bear began chasing them. When the bear noticed Thomas, it began attacking her. The frightened dogs ran off while the bear mauled the woman.

Thomas tells Alaska Dispatch News:

“He was so pissed off, he was growling, angry, shaking his head. He just started biting me. I’m yelling ‘No! No!'”

After the attack, Thomas walked 1-and-a-half miles back to her truck. One of the dogs was waiting for her back at the vehicle and the other dog was waiting next to it. Thomas arrived at a local hospital then flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, where she is listed in fair condition.

Troopers and Wildlife officials have closed the trail for a week, but there aren’t plans to track down the bear. Peters says that the dogs likely exasperated the bear’s attack in an area where salmon are already starting to die. This led to the bear’s protective instincts over its food source.

Peters says:

“The thought process is that the bear was more than likely being irritated by the dogs and also protecting its food source. So it was a bear being a bear.”

“He wanted revenge; that’s what he acted like,” Thomas tells ADN.

This woman handled a scary situation remarkably after being mauled by a bear.

[Photo Credit: Thea Thomas/Facebook via ADN]