Animal attack survival stories

The chances of getting killed by a wild animal are much smaller than you may think, with people living in America being 32 times more likely to die from being struck by lightning than from a bear attack, but that still hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the biggest fears for wilderness hikers. Here’s a selection of some of the scariest animal attack survival stories people have suffered from wild animals:

Lisa Mondy – Shark attack

Lisa worked as a wildlife tour guide in Port Stephens, Australia, when one day in 2011 on Jimmy’s Beach she was attacked by a 13ft great white shark while wakeboarding with some friends.

After missing one of her jumps and falling into the water, she began to swim back towards her board when the shark came up vertically from below and smashed into her, latching its jaws around her left arm, neck and face.

It dragged her down a few feet but lost its grip and since was wearing a life jacket, Lisa floated straight back to the surface. She lost most of the muscle in her left bicep and had to undergo a 16 hour surgery to save the rest of her arm, which was successful. She has since made a full recovery and now works in shark conservation.

Paul Templer – Hippo Attack

Paul was working as a wildlife expert in his native country of Zimbabwe in 1996 when one day his canoe was attacked by a hippo hiding in the water. The attack happened near Victoria Falls, a popular spot for hippos which are normally easy to spot and avoid, but this one was hiding in the water and Paul’s boat must have spooked it.

It lunged out and smashed into the boat, knocking Paul’s friend into the water. He reached in to grab him and the hippo grabbed Paul in its enormous mouth, pulling him into the water. It flung him around like a rag doll and spat him back out again. Paul tried to get back into the canoe but before he could the hippo latched onto his left arm and started to fling him around, crushing his bones in the process.

It spat him out again and some of his other friends managed to pull him from the water, but the one he was originally in the canoe with died. He was taken on an 8-hour trip to the hospital without any painkillers and doctors had to amputate his left arm due to how bad the crushing damage was. He made a full recovery and continues to work with wildlife.

Todd Orr – Bear Attack

While on a hike to scout out new hunting locations around the north fork of bear creek in Montana’s Madison mountain range, Todd Orr managed to wander into a secluded meadow were he came face to face with a mother bear and her cubs.

She immediately charged at him and slapped him around with her paws before suddenly disappearing. He was left with bad bruising and cuts on his arms and back, but before he could calm himself and regain his composure, the bear charged again and slapped him round the head with her huge claws, making several bad cuts on the upper left side of his head.

The bear ran off again and this time didn’t come back, and Todd had to walk 45 minutes back to his truck before driving himself to hospital for 8 hours worth of treatment and stitches.

Kootoo Shaw – Polar bear attack

One of the worst animal attack survival stories that someone actually survived. While working as a guide on a hunting trip in Kimmirut, Canada, Kootoo was with a group of hunters hiking along the coastline when it began to get dark, so the group made camp for the night.

During the early hours, the inhabitants of Kootoo’s tent were woken up by a loud ripping noise, and Kootoo initially thought their tent had somehow been flooded with snow upon first waking. Unfortunately, all the white he saw wasn’t from snow, but the fur of a giant 400-pound polar bear.

He tried to grab his knife to fight it off but couldn’t find it so decided to run. Shortly after jumping out of the tent and legging it across the ice, he tripped on a rock and caught the attention of the bear who charged at him.

It began to rip into his back with its enormous powerful claws and caused numerous deep gashes in his back and on his head. He claims it also began to jump up and down on him several times, most likely in an attempt to crush his bones as polar bears sometimes do.

Eventually, the group’s cook grabbed one of the guns in the camp and shot the animal twice, killing it on the spot. Kootoo was taken by canoe on an hour-long trip to the closest medical center and underwent 13 hours of surgery to reattach his scalp. The doctors removed about half a pint of sand that had clotted in the wound around his head before making just over 300 stitches to his head and back.