Man Mauled by Grizzly in Alaska Recounts Attack

A man who recently was mauled by a grizzly bear near northern Alaska’s remote Brooks Range said he recognized the animal that left him with broken teeth and a deep gash in his arm from his guide trips.

Jim Tuttle said he and the hunters he guided often spotted the bear, nicknamed Buddy. But the animal was never aggressive toward them until two weeks ago, when Tuttle was walking along a creek and saw it charging.

Tuttle said 16 years of guiding in the area had dulled him to the risks of working in bear country. When the incident occurred earlier this month, he was walking to a caribou carcass by himself, armed only with a pair of trekking poles.

“I am partly to blame. I got complacent, and I paid for it,” he told the Anchorage Daily News. “I guess I should have had a gun in my hand, safety off, ready to shoot.”

He said the attack northwest of Anaktuvuk Pass lasted less than 15 seconds. When it was over, Tuttle was spitting out broken teeth and needed a tourniquet on his left arm. One of his cheekbones was cracked.

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