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A Michigan man who “surprised” a female grizzly bear and her three cubs while hunting moose in Alaska is recovering after heading off an attack that left him seriously injured, officials said.
Nicholas Kuperus, 33, emerged from the encounter Tuesday evening with “serious puncture wounds to his arms,” according to Alaska Wildlife Troopers, who added ina statementthat Kuperus “was able to deter and stop the attack using bear spray.”
“I think anyone in that situation would probably be glad that things didn’t end up worse than they did,” Heidi Hatcher, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, tells PEOPLE.
At the time, Kuperus and his hunting partners were searching for moose about 60 miles north of Glennallen in the area of the upper East Fork Indian River, according to Hatcher and the troopers.
After the hunters parked their four-wheeler, one of them set off walking down a trail, where it’s likely the female grizzly detected his scent and started to run in another direction, Hatcher says. As the bear did so, it inadvertently began running toward Kuperus.
“He shouted at her, but she kept coming,” Hatcher says. “As she got closer, he deployed his bear spray,” a recommended self-defense tactic that involves a canister of pepper spray best deployed from a distance of 15 yards or less that irritates the mucus membranes of the animal’s eyes and nose.
“The bear spray did deter the bear,” she adds, “but not before the bear made contact with his arm that he was holding out.”
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But nothing indicates that Kuperus and his fellow hunters were anything other than “bear-aware,” she says. By quietly stalking moose, they likely were trying to make as little noise as possible, which similarly failed to alert the grizzly or other animals in the area, she says.
“In that sense, it can be a little more tricky because you’re not making your presence known,” Hatcher says. “You can be more likely to startle one if there’s one in the area.”
Kuperus' uncle, Mark Kuperus of Ravenna, Mich., said of the men and the bear, “They didn’t see it. They basically scared each other,” reportedMLive.com.
Kuperus' uncle told MLive.com that his nephew had been on previous Alaskan hunting trips while visiting a friend who had moved to the state.
PEOPLE’s call to Kuperus was not immediately returned.
“They stitched him up and he’s doing well,” his uncle said.
source: people.com
