David Michael Calnan rescued Carrie-Lynne Fair from an attacking bear, Dawson City, Yukon, July 9, 1999. Standing outside their tents in a campground, Ms. Fair, 19, and a friend were approached by a black bear, which then charged Ms. Fair and began to maul her. The friend fled, alerting help at another campground several hundred feet away. Calnan, 45, landscaper, who was working there, responded to the scene. Approaching to within 20 feet of where the bear was continuing to maul Ms. Fair, Calnan threw blocks of wood at the bear to scare it away. Thus incited, the bear charged him twice, each time approaching to within a few feet before returning to Ms. Fair and dragging her farther away. Calnan picked up a four-foot log and approached the bear, which was straddling Ms. Fair. He struck the bear with the log repeatedly, forcing the bear to retreat about 100 feet, from which distance it circled Calnan and Ms. Fair a few times. The bear remained in the vicinity until a police officer, arriving with other emergency personnel, provided a rifle with which Calnan fired at the bear. Evacuated from the scene, Ms. Fair required extensive hospitalization for treatment of severe injuries.
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