A college wrestler is thankful to be alive after his teammate fended off a large grizzly bear that was attacking him.
Kendall Cummings and Brady Lowry, both sophomore students and wrestlers at Northwest College, were antler hunting and fishing south of Cody, Wyoming, in the Shoshone National Forest on Saturday. They were joined by two other teammates but had separated from them at some point along the trail.
As they were walking down a mountain with about five or six antlers, a giant grizzly bear attacked Lowry without warning, the two students recalled in an interview with the Cowboy State Daily. They had brought bear spray and a revolver for the trip but noted they did not have enough time to react.
Cummings immediately tried to stop the mauling by throwing objects and yelling at the bear, but to no avail. He then decided to yank the bruin’s ear, which successfully got the animal off his friend. However, the bear turned its attention toward Cummings and suddenly charged at him.
The bear knocked Cummings to the ground and clenched its jaws into his skull before stopping and walking away. Cummings stood up and called out for Lowry, fearing the bear might attack his teammate again, but the grizzly came after him for a second time.
He initially tried fighting back before realizing he was outmatched by the large animal. Finally, the bear relented and scurried off from the two men.
Cummings found Lowry, and they both started to make their way back to the Bobcat Houlihan trailhead, where they had begun their hike. The two men were severely injured but were able to keep walking because of the adrenaline rushing through their bodies.
They eventually found their other two teammates — Orrin Jackson and August Harrison — who they had separated from earlier. Jackson and Harrison carried their injured teammates on their backs to meet emergency personnel at the start of the trailhead.
After reaching the first responders, Cummings recalled his adrenaline was starting to wear off, which caused excruciating pain.
“The wind, it was blowing onto my skull and it was getting pulled. That hurt, it was miserable,” Cummings told the Daily. “All the bumps, too, that was the worse part.”
Cummings was airlifted to a hospital in Billings, Montana, to treat the injuries to his skull. Lowry was also transported in an ambulance to the same city to treat a compound fracture in his left arm.
Remarkably, both students are expected to make a full recovery, according to Northwest College.
“It took quick thinking and no small amount of bravery for this to have ended without tragedy,” school president, Lisa Watson, said in a statement on Monday.
According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, there had been an “abundance of bear activity” in the weeks leading up to the grizzly bear attack.
“In the vicinity where the attack occurred, reports from landowners and hunters indicate there may be six to 10 different bears moving between agricultural fields and low elevation slopes,” said Dan Smith, a Cody wildlife supervisor with the department.
While at the hospital, Lowry expressed gratitude for Cummings, who put his own life at risk by pulling the grizzly bear off his friend.
“I can’t even express how grateful I am for him,” Lowry told the Daily. “I don’t know what I’m going to pay him back, I don’t. I owe him everything.”
Cummings and Lowry both say they will remain friends for life, even when they are no longer teammates.
“We’re brothers. We’d do anything for each other,” Lowry said.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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