WATCH: We are hearing for the first time from a Cranbrook man who survived a grizzly bear attack last month thanks to the quick action of his son in law. Geoff Hastings reports.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Fifty-six-year-old Wilf Lloyd says he does not know what provoked a 500-pound grizzly bear to charge at him on a hunting trip near Fernie, B.C. on Thanksgiving weekend.
Lloyd and his son-in-law Skeet Podrasky were hunting in the Elk Valley. The two men were not hunting grizzly bears, but were looking for elk.
Having shot some rounds the night before, the two were looking for any signs of blood or injured elk.
At one point, LLoyd reached into the bushes to pick up what looked like an elk’s tail. That’s when he locked eyes with a grizzly bear.
“I can’t get it out of my mind. I knew I was in trouble,” he says. “He was at full charge. He was about seven yards.”
The bear charged at Lloyd and toppled him over.
“His front paws were on my chest. He was pounding me back and forth,” he says.
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As the bear tried to go for Lloyd’s face, he stuck his arm into the bear’s mouth.
That’s when his hunting partner, Podrasky, shot at the bear. He shot again, but the bullet hit Lloyd’s leg instead. However, the bear would not let go, charging at Lloyd a few more times.
It was eventually fatally shot by Podrasky, who was not injured in the attack.
WATCH: Bear attack victim speaks
The bullet that hit Lloyd went into his left calf, hitting the lower bone and breaking it in nine places. It then went into and shattered his knee.
Lloyd was airlifted to hospital in critical condition.
He lost over half of his blood and had to undergo five surgeries to repair his leg.
The bear also caused extensive injuries on both of his arms, leaving him with a total of 50 stitches.
READ MORE: Grizzly bear attack near Fernie
The experience still lingers with Lloyd.
“The intensity and the fear, it is pretty real,” he says. “You can smell his breath, that he wants to kill you.”
He says having Podrasky there was a true blessing.
“He is my hero. He saved my life,” says Lloyd. “For that man to stay focused within the moment and to have the presence of mind to shoot the bear, reload and then do it again.”
It’s still unclear what provoked the attack, but it appears the bear may have had a den in the area and Lloyd came a little too close.
“This one, he was in his bed, did not hear us coming. Thirty yards is his safety zone and I am within that, and he charged,” says Lloyd.
For now, Lloyd is focusing on his recovery, but hopes to take up hunting again one day.
“There is a lot of people who don’t survive this sort of thing,” he says. “I know that each day that I got now is truly a blessing. I don’t take that for granted anymore. I look forward to each day and getting back to normal life.”
Lloyd will be off work while he rehabilitates his injuries and so his family and friends have set up a fundraising account to help with his expenses.
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