Wesley Perkins was attacked by a grizzly while hunting it in a remote area of Alaska. When he miraculously escaped, his face was badly scarred. Today it bears witness to its experience and its slow reconstruction.
“I remember everything because I never lost consciousness”. Wesley Perkins, 65, still bears the scars of a life-changing grizzly bear attack more than a decade ago while hunting near Weilers Council in his state of Alaska. An attack that cost him part of his face and for which he was hospitalized for several months. On camera, “Wes,” as his friends call him, told his story for amateur videographer Donnie Rose’s YouTube channel, broadcast by Newsweek.
On this May 16, 2011, the three of them take part in the hunt: Wesley Perkins, his friend Dan Stang and his son Edward. All three are experienced hunters, including in the risky specialty of hunting bears. It’s snowing a little outside and the sky is “overcast”.
“We saw this bear in the distance on the hill and it was quite impressive,” recalls the hunter.
“I lost my teeth, my tongue, my jaw”
The three men then begin their hunt and head up the hill where they saw the bear, but quickly lose sight of it. The hunter then has no idea that the animal is actually crouching in a hole about twenty meters away. He only realizes this when the grizzly appears and attacks him. In a few seconds he lies helpless on the ground.
“I felt the teeth of his wide jaw move from ear to ear. He tore and tore again (…). I turned onto my stomach [et] I felt his claws on my back. I couldn’t breathe,” the man says.
“I had to clear my airway because I had mud here,” he says, showing what’s left of his mouth. “My face was totally shattered. I lost my teeth, my tongue, my jaw.”
“I must have saved Wesley’s life”
Meanwhile, his friend Dan Stang grabbed his gun: “I went bear hunting,” he explains. “My son was a bit absent but he had seen everything that had just happened so he came back to us. By now the bear had turned and started charging at me. Edward opened fire.”
The bear is hit and then turns away from its target. Wounded, he walks away and lies down, showing signs of weakness. He will die shortly afterwards from his injuries. Dan Stang has already rushed to help his friend.
“I turned Wesley over and his whole face came loose. He had a gaping hole but it was amazing because there was very little blood and he was conscious. So I turned him on his head by telling him, ‘You gotta keep still, keep your head in the snow,'” recalls Dan Stang.
The hunter then rushes to the Hamlet Council to retrieve a radio and contact the emergency services. A helicopter was quickly dispatched to the scene and Wesley was taken to Nome Regional Hospital for emergency treatment before being transferred to the hospital in Seattle, Washington, in the Northwest, more than 3,000 kilometers away.
“I certainly saved Wesley’s life and my son saved mine,” shares Dan Stang.
The grizzly skin became a trophy
The hospital stay lasts three months, the time to reconstruct the victim’s face. His jaw is partially reconstructed “from the fibula of my left leg” (a leg bone). He didn’t get a tongue back, and everything he eats “goes through the blender.” Despite everything, the hunter confides in his luck to be alive and to have “a family that loves me and good friends” after this ordeal.
“Now I can do almost everything I used to do except sing karaoke,” he laughs.
Today, as a symbol, the grizzly that attacked him is a simple animal fur that sits on the wall of his room. “You can see a few scars” on the fur, he says to the camera, before showing the animal’s paws: “You see what those claws are capable of!”. He also continues to hunt “bears and other creatures”.
Having become a symbol, he regularly communicates with families of people who have been attacked by bears. “I tell them it takes time, it comes in stages. In the end he will have something like a normal life.”