Man survives attack by black bear in Sierra Nevada foothills
LONG BARN – A man on a run in a California foothills community was chased and attacked by a mother bear, leaving the man with scratches and multiple bites on Monday afternoon, officials said Tuesday.
The attack happened sometime after 5 p.m. on Monday on North Fork Road, located just off Highway 108 in the Long Barn area of Tuolumne County.
The Mi-Wuk Sugar Pine Fire Protection District responded to the incident, saying the man was on a run when he came across a cub on the road.
Moments later, the mother bear came out of the trees and chased the runner, officials said.
The man tried to hide behind a tree, but the mother bear found him and attacked him, the fire district said.
He was pushed into a ditch by the bear, where he landed on his stomach. The bear scratched his back and took out a gouge on his thigh, right where the man has a tattoo of a bear.
While on the ground, he broke a stick across the bear's face and ran away.
"I see this young man running down the road and a bear literally chasing and biting at him, and his shirt flapping in the wind. It was just shredded and he didn't have one of his shoes on all the way, so he's literally running with the shoe not on," Heather Silfies said.
This was when he jumped on top of a nearby parked car, which then caused the owner, Silfies, to come out.
"The young man is standing on the roof of our Escalade," Silfies said. "The bear is standing at the Escalade and she's trying to climb up. So she has her foot on the running board and she's literally jumping up at him, wanting to get on the roof, just wanting to attack him."
It was the right place at the right time for Silfies and her family who cared for the jogger until paramedics arrived.
"We feel blessed," Silfies said. "We were there to be able to help this kid in need because it was one of these situations that it could have been life or death."
The new friendship has blossomed for the family and the man, who returned Tuesday to thank them.
The scratches and multiple bite marks he suffered are consistent with a typical female bear attack, firefighters said.
The Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office said the bear was gone when deputies arrived. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking over the investigation.
CDFW has not said what will happen to the bear if/when it's found.
Ann Bryant, Director of the Bear League, said bears are not relocated in California.
"As much as we don't like to see anything happen to the bears, we can't risk having a bear out there that's going to act like that unless we know exactly what happened," Bryant said.
Long Barn is about 130 miles southeast of Sacramento.
Black bear attacks in California
Black bears are the only bear species in the state and human encounters with them are increasingly common, but people being injured by them is rare.
A North Lake Tahoe woman came face to face with a bear in her home in 2022. Earlier this year, a 71-year-old Downieville woman died after she was attacked by a black bear – marking the first-ever recorded case of a deadly black bear attack in California.
Two teens recounted a bear making its way into a Truckee home in 2019.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says the adult female bears typically weigh between 100-300 pounds, while adult male bears range from 150-400 pounds.
Fish and wildfire says agitated bears will snarl, open and close their mouths rapidly while salivating. They may also walk with their heads below their shoulders, indicating aggression. Bears could also bluff charge, meaning they'll run at full speeds at something they see as a threat to stop just short.
The investigation is being handled by fish and wildlife.