A woman drove herself to the hospital after being attacked by a brown bear in Alaska Tuesday while hiking on the Heney Ridge Trail in the Cordova area.
The Thomas, 57, was hiking with her dog and a friend's dog on the trail. The dogs ran off by a salmon-filled stream, and got chased back to Thomas by the bear.
When the bear noticed Thomas it attacked her. The dogs took off while she was being attacked.
Once the bear left her alone, Thomas proceeded to walk 1 ½ miles back to her truck. She found both dogs on the way back.
"I had to walk out because there was no one there," Thomas tells Alaska Daily News. She thought, "I've just got to start walking."
She drove herself to a local hospital.
"The trooper told me that when she checked herself into the hospital, he said it was almost like the people who were working on her were more shocked than she was," wildlife troopers' spokeswoman Megan Peters tells News Miner. "The trooper said she was very pragmatic and calm about everything."
Thomas told Alaska Daily News she was bit seven times, and the worst ones were on her back and thigh.
During the attack she said she went into a fetal position to protect her head and neck to Alaska Daily News.
The Wildlife Troopers said the trails are closed for the week, but they are not looking for the bear because the attack didn't seem to be preying on Thomas. He seemed like he was mostly irritated at the dogs that came near his food, reports News Miner.
"So it was a bear being a bear," Peters tells News Miner.
