Halloran was on one of his regular trips when he suddenly came face to face with two Asian bears. The pair kept an eye on him from a bush less than 30 meters away, CNN reports.
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As he looked into the bears’ eyes, he pondered a possible escape attempt. He was alone and miles away from his parked car. When Halloran tried to slowly walk backwards, one of the bears came towards him, said the 32-year-old, originally from New Zealand. “He was about the same size as me, an adult, and weighed at least 60 or 70 kilos,” he said.
Screaming
Halloran decided not to run, fearing that the bear would chase him and pounce from behind. So he tried to scare the animal away by shouting. But instead of being scared, the black bear charged straight at him.
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Reflexively, he held his arm in front of his face, “the bear grabbed my arm, pushing me to the ground,” says Halloran. “And then, in one bite, my arm was in tatters.”
Thanks to adrenaline, Halloran managed to get to his feet, after which he briefly came into contact with the bear again before disappearing into the bushes again.
Halloran called his wife to come get him. With a broken arm and a badly injured leg, he managed to run another kilometer to meet her and wait for an ambulance.
He spoke to CNN from the hospital, where he has been recovering from his injuries for the past few weeks. Halloran underwent three operations, including a hip transplant to cover a chipped piece of bone and the placement of metal plates in his arm.
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Physical and mental recovery
Halloran still faces a long road of recovery, including physical rehabilitation. But a bigger challenge could be facing the lingering trauma of the attack. He likened this to “the same feelings someone might have if they are attacked by a shark and want to go surfing again.”
Still, Halloran is determined to run in the woods again. He feels grateful, he said, because “there have been a lot of attacks, and some people have not been so lucky.”