TORONTO – Bob Molinelli had to make a promise to his fiancée never to run on a certain trail again.
That’s because last week, the Washington man was attacked by a bear while out for a run in a forest near Joint Base Lewis McChord near Seattle.
It’s the same exact trail where he says he was a victim of another bear attack four years ago.
Molinelli told CBS News that he was out for a run with his dog Abby when she disappeared into the trees.
Moments later, she returned – with a large brown bear in hot pursuit.
“As it got closer I knew instinctively it was going to hit me,” Molinelli told local CBS affiliate KIRO News. “So I swung as hard as I could and hit it right on the nose. And it just mowed me over.”
The bear inflicted significant damage to his face, head, chest, arms, and legs as it made repeated attacks. Molinelli said at first he tried to fight it off with his stick, before deciding instead to “play dead” and hope the angry bear moved along.
“It would come in and maul me, and I would just hit it with a stick and it would sort of subside or calm down. Then I would cover up, you know, protect my face and ears. Brought my knees up to my chest and just remained still.”
Eventually, the bear moved off, and other runners on the trail found Molinelli and took him to nearby Madigan hospital.
He said he suffered over 40 separate puncture wounds in the attack, but was lucky in that doctors were able to save both his eye and his right ear.
CBS News reports local wildlife officers killed an aggressive bear in the same area just days later, and are doing DNA testing to see if it’s the same animal that attacked Molinelli.
While he can’t be sure, Molinelli said he thinks the bear that attacked him last week is the same one that attacked him four years ago, on the same trail, running with the same dog.
That bear was never found by wildlife officers.
“The odds of being attacked once are very slim,” Sgt. Ted Jackson of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife told KOMO News in Seattle. “The odds of being attacked twice, I would say it’s impossible, last week. But it happened. I just can’t even calculate the odds of being attacked once, let alone twice.”
While he’s lucky to have survived two attacks, Molinelli has had to promise his loved ones there won’t be a third.
“I promised my fiancée Kathleen and my mother I’m not going back up,” Molinelli said. “I’m done.”
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