A Maryland man is lucky to be alive after being mauled by a mama Grizzly bear while vacationing in Idado. Tom Whitney was on his morning run on a trail in Island Park when he noticed the giant bear and her cub not far off the path.
"I noticed on my left side there was this furry patch, and I immediately stopped, looked up, and made eye contact with what I quickly realized was a grizzly bear," Whitney told East Idaho News.
As he made eye contact with the bear, it charged towards him.
"Before I knew it, the grizzly was 10 feet in front of me," Whitney said.
He ran into the woods but knew he couldn't outrun the bear, so he decided to play dead. That didn't stop the bear, which began to bite and scratch him.
"All I could hear is the growling, and I honestly thought, 'What a way to go, and this might have been it,'" Whitney said. "I said a quick little prayer hoping things would de-escalate, and next thing I knew, the bear took off."
Whitney waited until he was sure the bear had left and went back to his cabin and called the police. They advised him to go to the hospital to have his injuries checked out. He said he was lucky to escape with just scratches and puncture marks on his back.
"I've loved grizzly bears for all my life, and I never thought this would happen to me," Whitney said. "Things do happen. Definitely respect wildlife because they were here first, and we're kind of infringing on their territory."
Whitney said that he contacted officials at Idaho Fish and Game and was told they had no plans to trap the bear or put it down because it was protecting its cub.
"Luckily, they don't plan on trapping it or putting it down, which really makes me happy. I was there on its territory. It was the perfect recipe that could have been a fatal encounter. I just can't say it enough I'm very fortunate."