'I probably should have retired a week earlier': B.C. man recalls bear attack at remote work camp

WARNING: This story contains a graphic image.

It was supposed to be one last job before a quiet summer.

Three hours in, Gil Graham's leg was getting crushed by the jaws of a black bear.

Graham, a Port Coquitlam resident who works in B.C.'s mining industry, is recovering at home after he was attacked by a black bear in a remote camp near Williston Lake,north of Mackenzie, B.C., late last month.

"The clamping force of his jaw will always stay with me," Graham told CBC News from his home.

Graham, 65, arrived at the site on May 31alongside seven colleagues. The group was tasked with getting the 40-person camp set up for the upcoming field season.

Graham went outside to turn on some propane tanks. That's when he realized he was just over a metre away from a black bear.

"He was looking at me, I was looking at him super close range," he said. "It was just too tight for many options you would normally use to try to get some space between you and the animal," he said.

The bear then stood on its hind legs, andlunged at Graham's thigh.

Graham says he started yelling, and his coworkers quickly rushed over. One threw a large rock at the bear, which let go momentarily, but then bit intoGraham's thigh again.

"You immediately feel how helpless you are, and the immense power that even a small bear has, because it probably could have crushed my leg if that was his nature," he said.

The bear finally let go after a colleague drove at it with a pickup truck as the others continued to throw rocks at it. The animal was subsequently shot and killed.

Road to recovery

The crew was able to transport Graham to the nearestmedical centre, and then he was airlifted to University Hospital in Prince George, where he was treated for two weeks. Doctors were able to seal the wounds and no bones were broken.

Graham returned home on June 14.He says doctors expect he'llmake a full recovery and walk again but rehabilitation could take up to a year.

Friends and family have since launched an online fundraiser in his name. He says he plans to donate any extra funds raised to the health centres that aided his recovery.

As for returning to work, he admits that after 40 years he probably should have called it a career.

"I probably should have retired a week earlier," he said.