Bear Attack Leaves North Carolina Jogger with Multiple Serious Injuries

Bill Palas fought off a "momma bear" while running on the trails in Pisgah National Forest

A jogger from Asheville, North Carolina, narrowly escaped an encounter with a mother bear on July 7, according to multiple news outlets.

Bill Palas — a longtime resident of Asheville — was running the trails of Pisgah National Forest when he turned a corner and saw a cub, ABC 11 reported.

“When you see a cub like that, there’s usually a mom around," he recalled, per the outlet. "So, I go and I turn around real quick — and all of a sudden, there I see the momma bear.”

Palas said — as the cub ran up the hill — the mother bear charged after him and he began to wave his hands and yell, according to the outlet.

“After that initial encounter where she raked her claws against my face, and my arm went in her mouth, what went through my mind was, ‘This is it, the battle was going to go on,'” Palas told WCCB News.

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“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 described, per ABC 11.

Palas said he swung his arm to protect himself and the bear bit his arm. He fell on his back and waited for the next move of the bear, but she was more interested in her cub, according to the outlet. He said he took advantage of the bear’s distraction and got up and ran away as fast as he could.

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“I was running on adrenaline and shock," Palas said, per the outlet. "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."

Palas eventually made it home and his wife rushed him to the hospital. A plastic surgeon worked on his face for about three hours sewing up the wounds. A small part of his middle finger was also torn off by the bear but was reattached, per WCCB News.

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"They brought in a special facial plastic surgeon, you know, 'cause they saw I was all tore up on the face," he explained, as reported by WGAL 8. "He spent three hours sewing on me."

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"It's kind of like, lightning rarely strikes someone – but it struck me this time," he said. "I just feel so lucky that I'm together. I mean, seeing these three-inch razor claws, I could see them this close to my face. Man, it's just surreal."

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