Photo-BRENDA GRUNDT, WWW.WAWA-NEWS.COM
Posted on 07/22/2006 5:30:03 PM PDT by kanawa
A Waterloo man and his dog made a harrowing escape from the clutches of a vicious black bear Thursday while portaging near Wawa, Ont.
Tom Tilley, 55, killed the nearly 200-pound bear by jumping on its back and stabbing the aggressive animal with a six-inch hunting knife after his dog alerted him and distracted the bear.
"Love is a very powerful emotion and my thought right away was, 'You're not going to kill my dog,' " Tilley said yesterday.
"I really consider my dog a hero. Without that first warning I would have had the bear clamping down on my neck."
Tilley had planned on spending 12 days portaging through the area near Wawa with his American Staffordshire, Sam.
Four days into the trip, as he was making his third trip back to the water near Abbey Lake to retrieve his gear, he heard his dog growl and noticed the bear closing in on him. He said he did what he's been taught to do when a bear is close -- he starting waving his arms and slowing started backing away from the animal.
The bear moved off the trail, but a few seconds later reappeared, cutting off Tilley's escape route.
"That's when I knew I had a serious problem . . . I was lunch," he said.
Sam, who was behind Tilley before the bear moved up the trail, was now between the bear and his owner. Instead of taking an aggressive stance, the dog stood sideways blocking the bear's route.
"The bear took a few steps down the trail and clamped its mouth on the back of my dog," Tilley said. "By attracting the bear's attention like that and distracting the bear from me it gave me the quick opportunity I needed to run around to the back of the bear, get on its back and with my knife start stabbing it."
Tilley had recently purchased the knife that would save his life after reading the story of Jacqueline Perry, the young Cambridge doctor who was killed by a bear last September.
Perry's husband attempted to fend off the animal with a Swiss Army Knife -- the only weapon he had.
"When I read the report about her death, it really hit home to me that these things are possible," Tilley said.
"I owe her husband a real debt of gratitude because if I hadn't heard her story and got that knife, I wouldn't be telling this story."
After making sure the animal was dead, Tilley realized he had suffered a wound to his hand and Sam had two puncture marks on his back. He needed to get help, but was a two-day portage away from civilization.
Dragging his canoe across the short portage, Tilley paddled for about an hour before he came across a pair of Americans who happened to have a satellite phone.
They called for help and two hours later, a cargo plane arrived to take Tilley back to Wawa for medical attention.
He was treated and released from hospital.
News of his feat passed quickly through the small community, with a population of just over 3,000.
"He had a lot of cojones to do what he did," said Brenda Grundt, who operates the local news site Wawa-news.com and drove Tilley two hours back to where he'd left his van after the incident.
LUCKY TO HAVE KNIFE
"It's pretty amazing. Here's a guy that wouldn't be here if he hadn't happened to have a knife on him."
As for Tilley, it wasn't until he was back in his van alone with Sam that he took in the gravity of the situation.
"I just thanked God I was alive and that my dog was alive and cried a bit, but they were tears of thanks and relief," he said.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has sent the bear's body to Guelph and Ottawa for testing.
"It's very unusual for a bear to attack a person (and) pretty amazing this gentleman was able to kill it just with a knife," said Jolanta Kowalski, spokes-person for the ministry.
Because Wawa doesn't have a veterinarian's office and a specialist wasn't available to treat his hand, Tilley decided to push through and make the long journey home that night.
Back in Waterloo, news of his experience trickled back to amazed friends and family. Despite the danger, Tilley said the incident hasn't erased his love of the outdoors.
"My daughter says I'm not allowed to go up there anymore," he said with a laugh. " But I left my canoe there knowing I'll have to go back to get it."
Photo-BRENDA GRUNDT, WWW.WAWA-NEWS.COM
Yeah.. we do have sharks.. I'm going sea fishing again in a fortnight.....
It is one of the things that defines Canadians as different from Americans. Canada still has a vast , empty frontier laced with rivers and lakes stretching far into the Northern tundra.
I do not derogate Americans, I am one, but when I recently posted to a thread about the Canadian military, I tried to communicate this difference to my fellow Americans, who didn;t get it. I was seen as somewaht eccentric for saying that Canadian soldiers from rural areas of Canada had the old skills and attitudes largely missing today from soldiers in the USA, except perhaps those of Native American extraction.
The Candaian wilderness and ones ability to sojourn in it for lenghty periods of timew generates a view and skill iin survival, clear thinking and resourcefulness in many. These traditions are still passed down in families and through friendship with fellow travellers, and native Canadians have taught us a lot.
This has defined many Canadian men from the rural areas of Canada, many of whom are comprise the backbone of Cnada's small military. Most of them could have done what Kanawa did, not to take away from his bravery and accomplishment, but it is a fact. It is the character that Kanawa has and his resourcefulness and skill defined by wilderness experience which are shared by so many Canadian men and women.
It is something that Canadians should remember in their often too strident insistance that they are different from Americans. It is in this area that they surely are, and Canadians should have confidence in that as an established fact.
The results are not always positive though, we have a murderer of two RCMP officers at large in Northern Manitoba because of these skills and character, and he may never be found.
Yeah.. I don't have kids yet! Don't have a girlfriend/wife to have have kids with! ;)
What an awesome story! And this was with a six-inch hunting knife?
That's true- I have met e few standard poodles, and as long as they don't have those ridiculous haircuts, they are pretty cool.
Pretty amazing, eh?
A true Canadian man and his dog.
:-)
because black bears are harmless.
I'll probably just catch more mackerel....
;)
That's for sure.
I spent quite a bit of time in Algonquin Park in my youth.
I've backpacked food for a week, carried canoes across portages, cooked every meal on a fire, (Mmmm, Kraft Dinner with a pinch of wood ember, and smores for desert!!!), dug latrines, used salt to get the leaches off, pitched a tent, wormed my hooks, cleaned fish, etc.
All while I was a 7 - 14 year old girl.
I was very lucky. :-D
yeah, I have another decade or so to go!
You may have to move to the states, but somewhere out there is a conservababe just for you!
Mark Steyn once said that conservative women in Ireland are thinner on the ground than Jews in Arafat's cabinet - I want to prove him wrong! (Though, not easy to prove Steyn wrong...)
:-)
I'm gonna have to camp on the peak of Mweelrea!
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