A woman and her two German shepherds were wandering near her home when they came across a wild bear, which mauled her after one of her dogs rushed.
Renee Levow was walking her two dogs, Kylie and Bones, in Frederick County, Maryland, when they came upon a big bear.
Kylie leapt towards the bear, attempting to battle it, and the bear locked eyes with Levow.
The 55-year-old claimed she did what she was always advised to do when confronting a bear in the wild: she yelled and pretended to be large.
Unfortunately, this strategy backfired, and the bear charged at her.
Levow described the terrifying experience of the bear attacking her all over her body.
After a few seconds, he swatted her down and bit her left leg twice right above her knee, then threw her to the side and proceeded to attack her, she explained.
He bit her skull and the side of her face twice and she heard her skull crack with the first bite on the left side of her face and head, she explained.
Levow described the sound as “terrible.”
She stated she feared she was going to die.
He then bit her on the right side of her scalp, above her eye, cutting the nerves, she explained.
At that moment, the only thing Levow could conceive of to convince the bear to stop was to pretend dead.
Levow claimed the bear got indifferent and fled the scene when she covered her head with her arms and laid flat on the ground.
Levow stated that she waited for the bear to go for 10 minutes.
She immediately took out her phone to contact 911, but had to wipe the gushing blood from the screen.
She was fortunate as they have a local fire station, and the chief who was on call lives just at the end of her street so he rushed to her help and began wrapping her wounds, she explained.
She was then transported to Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital.
She had surgery there to repair her orbital fracture, severed nerves, and open wounds on her scalp, face, chest, and left leg.
Levow said she couldn’t feel any of her wounds since her adrenaline was so high.
Levow said she is grateful to be alive and recuperating more than two years later, but she still bears scars from the incident.
She has a scar on her chest from where he smacked her to the ground, and she has an injury above the knee from where he got two bites, she explained.
She also has irreversible nerve damage on her scalp, face, and leg but she is grateful he left her alone and that she is still alive.
Neither of Levow’s dogs was hurt in the incident.
Taylor Phillips, owner of Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures in Wyoming, stated that when confronted with a bear by surprise, the best reaction is to pretend dead.
If one comes into contact with a bear, it’s best to lay face down on the ground with one’s hands protecting one’s neck, he said.
If one sees a bear from a distance and it approaches one, Phillips advises fighting back.
Yell, hurl items, and fight like one’s life is on the line, he said.
When encountering bears in the outdoors, the National Park Service (NPS) provides this advice and more.
Keep cool and understand that most bears do not want to fight anybody; instead, they want to be left alone. Bears may fake their way out of a confrontation by attacking and then fleeing at the last second, according to the NPS.
The NPS adds, bears may also respond aggressively by woofing, yawning, drooling, snarling, snapping their jaws, and laying their ears back.
Keep talking to the bear in low tones; it will help one stay calmer and will not be intimidating to the animal. An assault may be triggered by a scream or a quick movement. Never replicate bear sounds or screech in a high tone, the service says.
