• Sweden edition
Society

Hunter, dog survive wild bear chase drama

Published: 9 Sep 12 10:56 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/43112/20120909/

A Swedish man in his twenties was planning a day in the woods to train his hunting dog, but was joined by some unexpected company, as a bear chased them up into a hunting tower where they were forced to remain through the night.

“It started getting darker and darker, and I could hear the bear roaring, she was defending her cubs, and was really mean,” said the surprised victim Thomas Olsson to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

He was only heading out to the woods to train his 15 month-old dog Aqila, but was forced to stay for quite a bit longer than planned.

“Aqila barked, and I thought she’d found elk, but then she came running with a bear chasing after her,” Olsson said.

He managed to fire a shot, which served to distract the bear, and made his escape up a nearby hunting tower.

“I thought I’d have a better chance of making it if climbed up. I think it was really lucky that the tower was right there,” Olsson said.

He was stuck atop the tower from eight in the evening until four in the morning, in a t-shirt and with no mobile phone with him to call for help. Finally, a rescue squad found him.

Olsson told the Aftonbladet newspaper that the unexpected meeting was his first close encounter with a bear, after eight years as a certified hunter.

“And that’s probably as close as I want to get.”

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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12:28 September 9, 2012 by rise
Wonderful he didn't actually shoot the bear! After all he eventually was saved as well. Not every hunter is just another cold blooded killer it seems.
14:04 September 9, 2012 by Green2013
When the bear defends her cubs she gets really mean.
18:58 September 9, 2012 by Redbee
So glad he didn't shoot mother bear as her cubs would have starved .Not keen on hunters ,i prefer to see animals alive and well .
20:35 September 9, 2012 by StockholmSam
What happened to the dog? Did it get trained?
11:28 September 10, 2012 by Grokh
hunters are cowards, and i love when they get screwed when the odds change.

in fact there are more humans than bears in the world maybe let the bears kill some humans off?

its sickening the way we destroy wildlife habitats, or how for example the chinese keep funding african poachers to exterminate elephants .
13:12 September 10, 2012 by entry
Wolves and bears should be relocated to city parks, play grounds and Universities throughout Sweden so that eco-nuts can pet them, cuddle them and feed them(literally). :) Eco-nuts think that predators should run rampant until their own cat or expensive pure bred dog is eaten.
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