Asheville Man Survives Bear Attack

WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Long-time Asheville resident Bill Palas has quite a crazy bear story to tell and fortunately, not a lot of scars to prove it.

Palas  fought off a bear on the Blue Ridge Parkway trails on July 7th. He tells WCCB News @ Ten Anchor Gary Brode he was biking on the trail and when he turned a corner, there was a cub. The cub ran up the tree. That’s when Palas saw mama bear sprinting towards him.

He was able to fight off the bear just enough to get away.

“After that initial encounter where she raked her claws against my face, and my arm went in her mouth, what went through my mind was, ‘well this is it, the battle was going to go on,'” said Palas.

Palas said  the plastic surgeon spent about three hours on his face stitching him up. The bear also ripped off a small portion of his middle finger which was re-attached.

Palas tells WCCB he has biked and ran those trails hundreds of times over 30 years. He doesn’t plan to stop.

NC Wildlife wants to remind viewers of bear safety tips. You can find those by click here.