Man mauled by bear thought 'pitiful scream' was animal dying but truth was much worse

A man mauled by a bear has recalled his horrifying realisation moments before the animal crushed his skull, knocking him unconscious.

Dan Bigley came within millimetres of being killed when the huge brown bear dragged him into bushes and bit his head several times. The animal's big, sharp teeth cracked Dan's skull, causing him to pass out. But through sheer luck, his brain wasn't penetrated.

He was, however, blinded in the attack. Now, some 20-odd years later, he's described in detail the moment he suffered life-changing injuries, recalling the chilling sound he heard just before he thought he was going to die.

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Dan, who had lived in Alaska for years, told the Black Rifle Coffee Company's YouTube channel he was walking through the forest after a day of fishing with his friend Jana when they encountered the bear.

"We had gotten all the way back when my dog Maya lets out a little growl," he recalled. "I look up and sure enough, there's a large brown bear in front of us."

Coastal Alaska is home to the world's largest brown bears, which can stand higher than 9ft tall and weigh as much as 1,500lbs. They're also deceptively quick and nimble, and can outrun the average human, reaching speeds of 35 to 40mph over short distances.

Dan had encountered bears in the wild before, but he quickly realised this one was different, visibly agitated and aggressive. The pair began to retreat slowly, but the bear lunged at them, swiping at Dan.

They weren't aware at the time, but the bear's cubs were hiding in nearby bushes and she was protecting them. Dan had attempted to jump into the bushes but was grabbed by the bear and mauled.

He said: "I just remember hearing this pitiful screaming sound that sounded like the sound of a dying animal, and I just remember having the realisation that it was me making the sound."

Dan was dragged into the bushes, where the bear sank her teeth into his head, cracking his skull and causing him to pass out. Drifting in out of consciousness, he said he woke up around four times during the mauling.

Eventually, the bear, believing Dan to be dead, walked away. Jana, with help from local fisherman, looked after him for two hours until the emergency services arrived to take him to the hospital.

Several of Dan's vital arteries were severed during the attack. Doctors initially described his condition as "incompatible with life". He was placed into a medically-induced coma and spent 12 hours in surgery. Twelve days after the attack, Dan was woken up and began the long road to recovery.

Dan, who worked as a recreational therapist for children, was left haunted by the harrowing incident.

In a separate interview, he said: "You know, I didn't realise at the time that this would be one of the last things I would ever see with my eyes, that it would burn itself into my psyche of something I would see kind of over and over again and in dreams and, you know, just throughout the day, every day for months, weeks, months, even years to come."

He now lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with his wife and two kids. In 2013, he co-wrote a book, Beyond the Bear: How I Learned to Live and Love Again after Being Blinded by a Bear.

He added: “But to be honest, one of the things about rewriting the book and sharing the story so broadly is it has become easier. I think part of that is time, obviously, all the personal work I’ve done — therapy and things like that.

"But I think the bigger answer is that, really, the bigger my life gets, the smaller my disability gets. And really the bigger my life gets, the smaller the trauma of it all gets.

"And I’ve gone on to live a very fulfilling and wonderful life. And that’s what the whole story is about, is about moving beyond the bear.”