Wyoming college wrestlers left with horrific ‘blood-soaked’ injuries after mauling by a grizzly bear
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Two college wrestlers hunting with their teammates in Wyoming were attacked and injured in a “surprise attack” by a grizzly bear last weekend.
Both men were transported to local hospitals, one of them by helicopter, after the Saturday afternoon encounter that left them “soaked in blood,” the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said in a written statement.
“Based on initial information, this appears to be a sudden, surprising encounter with a grizzly bear,” the department said.
Kendell Cummings of Evanston and Brady Lowry of Cedar City, Utah, were hunting and enjoying the outdoors with teammates August Harrison and Orrin Jackson in the Shoshone National Forest, south of Cody, when the bear pounced on them.
Kendall Cummings, right, jumped on a grizzly bear in an attempt to pull it off his friend Brady Lowry
Kendall Cummings was left with blood-soaked injuries. He was given 60 staples to his head and plastic surgery to deal with major cuts to his face. He had large cuts on his left arm and leg that doctors had to stitch, along with stitches on his right hand and right leg
The couple had just seen feces from what they believe was a bear when the attack took place.
“Before you could even think or blink, a bear came running out of the trees right in front of me,” Lowry told me. Fox news. “It had me pretty beat up.”
Lowry ended up with a broken arm that took six screws and bolts to fix. The bear also bit his right thigh. During the attack, he curled up into a ball.
Cummings then shouted. The bear charged at him and immediately knocked him to the ground.
Cummings even grabbed the bear by the ear before he too was chased by the grizzly bear and injured before he could get out his bear spray.
“I grabbed and jerked it hard,” he explained.
“I could hear when his teeth hit my skull, I could feel when he bites my bones and they would grind,” he said. Cowboy State Daily.
Brady Lowry of Cedar City, Utah is seen in his hospital bed in Montana with his father, Dallas Lowry
Two members of the Northwest College Wrestling Team, Kendell Cummings, left, and Brady Lowry, were mauled by a grizzly bear while walking on the South Fork in Wyoming
“I called for Lowry to make sure he was okay and I think the bear heard me,” Cummings said. “It circled a bit and got hold of me again.”
When the bear stopped attacking, Cummings lay still so as not to draw any further attention.
Lowry managed to call 911 and called their teammates Harrison and Jackson for help.
“He was just soaked from the blood running down the hill,” Harrison said. “Me and Jackson took turns carrying him to the bottom where the field was.”
The pair were both taken to the hospital with Cummings while an ambulance took Lowry to a trauma center in Billings, Montana.
Both will recover, but will not struggle anytime soon.
Lowry says Cummings saved his life.
“I can’t even express how grateful I am for him,” Lowry said. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to pay him back, I don’t know. I owe him everything.
Brady Lowry and his friend were out walking and hunting for antlers, as they had done so many times before
Kendell Cummings, pictured here, is an accomplished hiker and hunter when they were surprised by a bear attack
“There are really serious holes and wounds. He took a lot of staples on his head and also (there is) some cosmetic surgery for his cheek,” said wrestling coach Jim Zeigler. “Neither will struggle for a while.”
Cummings received 60 staples to his head and plastic surgery to deal with major cuts to his face. He had large cuts on his left arm and leg that doctors had to stitch, along with stitches on his right hand and right leg.
Lowry suffered a broken arm and cuts to his back, shoulders, right leg and thigh.
‘In front of [Harrison and Jackson], there is a lot of emotional trauma. I don’t think we can begin to describe what happened there when they had to go and rescue a child, bring him out and carry him outside,” Zeigler added of the rescue couple.
Landowners and hunters in the region have reported a recent increase in bear activity at low elevations, prompting conservationists to caution visitors.
“In the vicinity of the attack, reports from landowners and hunters indicate that six to 10 different bears may be moving between farmland and low-lying slopes,” said Dan Smith, regional supervisor for Wyoming’s Fish and Game Division.
“This is a sad and unfortunate situation, we wish both victims a full and speedy recovery.”