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
BTTT
I saw that. It was pretty cool. Hopefully the bear wasn't a member of an endangered species--that could mean trouble for him from envirowhackos and so on.
Thanks for the ping, Mr. Silverback. This is truly a hero's tale!
Kanawa..I am so thankful that you and Sam came out with only "minor" wounds compared to what it could have been. What a story!!!
Poor baby.
High price to being a good dog.
Steaks weekly for life.
Sounds like it was just right to me. No offense, but when I'm in bear country I don't carry anything less than a 45COLT.
Gotta read this ping!
Girlie, you have gone to extremes.
One to fill a teacup and one to fill a SUV..
And both think they are lapdogs. LOL..
I'm glad you and your dog survived this! God blass you both.
You only need to be a US Citizen by birth to be President.
You can be naturalized for everyting else.
We can still use him in the Senate..
Woof!
FR has its own hero!!
Has any PR maven Freeper gotten you onto Leno and Letterman? Oprah, Ellen?
You need a trophy, too!
Freepers rule!!!
Thank goodness for that.
Sam is a great dog!
Hope he has a speedy recovery.
On balance, pit bulls are a danger to other animals and human beings.
On balance that is nonsense.
You can't have him!
LOL!
It's obvious what your motives are, so just do the rest of us a favor and leave.
Not the ones that try to eat us. ;-)
And both think they are lapdogs. LOL..
The little one is mine, she's about 9 yo. I got Tinker, the slightly larger one, for my husband for his birthday two years ago, he was a 7 wk old 30 pound baby. Tinker loves me, but he IS my husband's dog, heart and soul.
Bebe, the tiny one, potty-trained Tink the first day home, he followed her around because she acted like the boss. They are great friends, now, but Tink would rather follow Hub everywhere he goes, and do every thing he does (and eat everything he eats!)
Wow, I feel like I just read about Davey Crockett again.
Great story.
Very serious. We had an Ohio mother and her daughter killed this past year also - I believe they were vacationing in Tennessee. My husband and I were in the woods of PA hiking a few years back and the next thing I knew, there was a huge black bear in the distance; I took off faster than you can say "Yogie" but my husband said I was silly. Recently, I don't feel so silly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.