The Blowhard
07-19-2002, 07:54 PM
76-year-old survives bear attack by hugging it
A 76-year-old Japanese man has survived a bear attack by hugging the animal.
Noboru Toyoshima, from Kyowa, Akita Prefecture, was hiking on mountain slopes when he came face-to-face with a mother bear and its cub.
He says the mother was about to swipe him when he remembered a friend telling him: "Bears can't move easily when grabbed face-on.''
He rushed at the bear and hugged it before kicking its leg and tripping it. They fell 10 metres down a hill.
The bear then fled. The Asahi Shimbun says the pensioner suffered claw marks on his head and shoulders.
He says they struggled for two or three minutes before he tripped the animal.
Doctors say he'll be in hospital for about five days.
He said: "I thought I would be killed. I'm glad to be alive. It was so fearsome. I don't want to go to the mountains for the time being."
Story filed: 09:22 Friday 19th July 2002
<img src=http://home.ix.netcom.com/~camman/_uimages/Heck.gif>
A 76-year-old Japanese man has survived a bear attack by hugging the animal.
Noboru Toyoshima, from Kyowa, Akita Prefecture, was hiking on mountain slopes when he came face-to-face with a mother bear and its cub.
He says the mother was about to swipe him when he remembered a friend telling him: "Bears can't move easily when grabbed face-on.''
He rushed at the bear and hugged it before kicking its leg and tripping it. They fell 10 metres down a hill.
The bear then fled. The Asahi Shimbun says the pensioner suffered claw marks on his head and shoulders.
He says they struggled for two or three minutes before he tripped the animal.
Doctors say he'll be in hospital for about five days.
He said: "I thought I would be killed. I'm glad to be alive. It was so fearsome. I don't want to go to the mountains for the time being."
Story filed: 09:22 Friday 19th July 2002
<img src=http://home.ix.netcom.com/~camman/_uimages/Heck.gif>