Survivor of Alberta grizzly bear attack details encounter in wild new book

Nov 9 2022, 5:47 pm

A survivor of a grizzly bear attack in Alberta has detailed his experience in a new book, Mauled.

Jeremy Evans was on a solo hunting trip in August of 2017 in the Alberta Rockies, west of Calgary, when he stumbled across a grizzly bear with her cub.

Evans endured multiple ferocious attacks from the bear, receiving extensive injuries in the process.

“All the skin was taken off my head down to my collar bone, my jaw was hanging off. My inner right thigh had a baseball-sized chunk missing,” Evans said.

“She grabbed me by the side, picked me up and chucked me like six feet like nothing happened. The amount of power in that, it’s crazy. After the bear was done with me, I picked up the chunks of me and carried all the pieces out.” 

Evans isn’t afraid to go into extreme detail on his attack in his book Mauled: Lessons Learned from a Grizzly Bear Attack, written alongside award-winning journalist Crosbie Cotton.

Jeremy Evans

A note left by Evans in an outfitter camp following the attack. (Jeremy Evans)

The book is injected with real photos from Evans’ journey to making it out of the woods after the attack and to safety, including a hand-written letter he left at an outfitters’ camp.

Other photos include the site of the attack and photos of Evans before and after reconstructive surgery, along with a selfie he took immediately following the attack.

Evans’ first time looking at himself post-surgery. (Jeremy Evans)

Evans with plastic surgeon Dr. Duncan Nickerson. (Jeremy Evans)

Evans stresses in the book the importance of mental health and seeking help after a traumatic event, adding that he can now even joke about the attack, but can still remember it vividly.

“I remember every single step on my way out, it’s still all fresh in my mind,” he said while going into detail about feeling the middle-aged 300-pound female grizzly tearing into his skull during the attack.

A key thing that shines throughout the book is Evans’ determination, resilience and willingness to forgive the bear for the attack and to move on with life and proceed to do the things he loves.

“It sucked, but I am not going to let it stop me,” Evans said.

He added that he understands that he got between a mother and her cub, and when that occurs “bad things are going to happen.”

“They told my wife it would take six months to a year to get back to normal duties and I may never hunt again— two days after I was released I was out hunting. I was back to work full-time seven weeks from the day I was mauled by the bear,” he chuckled.

“The doctors to this day are astonished I go out hunting and do the stuff I do.”

You can find Evans’ book, Mauled: Lessons Learned from a Grizzly Bear Attack, at various retailers, including Amazon and Indigo.

Laine MitchellLaine Mitchell

+ News
+ People
+ Curated
ADVERTISEMENT