Man hurt in rare bear attack

ISHPEMING - An Ishpeming man was treated for bear bites Saturday at Bell Memorial Hospital after he inadvertently put himself between a sow black bear and her cubs.

"What this is going to be is a textbook classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Elton Luce, who investigated the incident. "The timing on this was just absolutely perfect for that bear to attack."

At about 8:15 a.m. Saturday, Timothy Saxwold, 51, was walking with his 115-pound Labrador and Bavarian mountain hound mixed dog on his property, which is located about a half-mile south of the South Camp Road, north of Ishpeming.

Apparently, neither Saxwold nor the sow initially knew the other was in the area of a two-track road. The location was reportedly near a place where Saxwold has cut lanes for archery.

Luce said the sow was off on one side of the road about 10 yards away from Saxwold and the cub was about the same distance away on the opposite side of the road.

"He got in between that sow and her cub," Luce said.

With Saxwold's dog walking ahead of him about 20 yards up the road, the sow jumped out and stopped about 15 yards away from Saxwold.

Saxwold tried to follow bear-human threat protocols by making himself look large and yelling and waving his shirt in the air.

But Luce theorizes the bear was taken by surprise by Saxwold's presence and instead of taking traditional defensive measures of its own to intimidate Saxwold - such as popping its jaw or standing on its hind legs - it charged and attacked.

The sow bit Saxwold's right forearm, leaving puncture marks on the top and bottom. The 200-pound young female bear let go of its bite when Saxwold kicked her.

But the sow then charged again and bit Saxwold on the palm and top of the same hand. Saxwold's dog then turned on the sow with teeth bared.

"The dog came charging after the bear," Luce said. "The dog jumped on the bear and bit the bear on the hind quarters."

The dog then ran down the road about 50 yards and the bear pursued, but stopped once she realized the dog was no longer within threatening range of her cub. Luce said Saxwold saw one cub, and perhaps two, briefly when the bear initially charged.

With the dog down the road, the bear now turned and ran back toward Saxwold. But this third approach saw the bear growling and popping its jaw, making no additional attempt to attack.

"A neighbor on the next forty over was picking blueberries and he heard the screaming and came over on his ORV and found the victim," Luce said.

Saxwold was taken by the neighbor back to his house. He then drove himself to Bell Hospital for treatment of the non-life-threatening wounds.

Luce and a DNR biologist visited the area later in the day. Saxwold agreed with them that the bear was doing what nature taught it to do by defending her cubs. Consequently, there are not plans to attempt to trap or kill the bear.

"She was just trying to neutralize that threat," Luce said.

The attack is considered rare, with black bears typically known to be a docile species. Luce said the DNR biologist from Marquette had only heard of one similar incident over the past decade.