A summer resident of Rice Lake Road west of Kenora is lucky to be alive.
Dave Schwab was attacked by a black bear at the end of September.
Schwab says if it weren’t for the quick thinking of Steve Halvorson and Jacob Fafard, he would be dead.
Fafard and Halvorson were presented with a token of appreciation and a certificate for their heroic efforts by Kenora mayor Dan Reynard this week.
Schwab says “According to the MNRF and biologists I talked to, this bear displayed all the characteristics of a predator. He was after a meal, he wasn’t curious, and I was it. I fought the thing off three times.”
He states “I started yelling for help when I got about 200 metres from my cabin, and miraculously these guys heard me. They somehow sensed an urgency in my shout for help because they didn’t come walking up the road to see what was going on, they came ripping up the road in the truck.”
Schwab says “When they arrived I was totally spent physically and emotionally. This bear caused significant wounds to my leg and my elbow. I don’t know if I could have fought the bear off again.”
He adds Halvorson and Fafard drove very quickly on Highway 17 to bring him to hospital for treatment.
