Vancouver first aid

Man survives after an incident with a grizzly

A man named Colin Dowler was traveling the backcountry trails when attacked by a grizzly.

A day before his birthday, Dowler did not think he would be able to celebrate it. On a Tuesday morning, the devoted outdoor man was scouting backcountry trails located outside of Powell River, British Columbia, riding on his mountain bike. It is about 7 kilometers away from the nearest logging camp.

Vancouver first aid
Dowler immediately provided initial first aid on his injured leg.

Unexpected ordeal

While on his way down in one of the hills going to the logging road, he saw from a distance a large male grizzly bear walking towards his direction. I just stood there and waited for the bear that keeps walking towards me.

As the bear inched closer to him, he had a hiking pole in one hand and tried to push it away. It has no effect on the bear and just kept on moving towards Dowler and swiped his mountain bike.

The bear grabbed his stomach, pushed and dragged him towards a ditch about 50 feet. Dowler tried gouging both eyes of the bear, but it did not work. He remembered that he had a small buck knife inside his pocket. It was a gift from his father.

Dowler pulled out the knife from his pocket and stabbed the bear in his neck. The bear was bleeding very badly. He was not sure if it was dying faster than him.

Dowler immediately provided initial first aid on his injured leg. He cut off one of his sleeves and wrapped it around his wounded leg to minimize the bleeding. He drags his body to his mountain bike with one leg severely wounded. With one leg badly wounded, he started pedaling and continued on the trail.

He was afraid he would not be able to make it down a remote worksite which is about 7 kilometers down a logging road. He eventually reached the work area and collapsed outside the mess hall of the camp and called for help. Five workers in the area immediately provided first aid on Dowler. Some workers called emergency numbers.

A helicopter arrived in the area and immediately brought Dowler to the hospital for further treatment. Jennifer, wife of Dowler was very grateful and thanks to the workers of a remote logging camp for providing first aid on her husband before he was picked up by an air ambulance. Dowler is now recovering inside Vancouver General Hospital.

For more information about this story, click here.

LEARN MORE

Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid class and for more information, check out these sources:

https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/bleeding-cuts-wounds
https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aid

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