Post by Joanna on Dec 5, 2013 3:44:12 GMT -5
Man Eats Dog to Survive after Bear Attack
A man killed and ate his pet dog in order to stay alive after a bear attack left him without resources.
Marco Lavoie has been rescued after being stranded in remote woods in Quebec, Canada, for about three months.
The 44-year-old adventurer was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration and had lost about 90 pounds.
He is in a "very serious" condition in hospital.
He had left for a two-month long solo canoe trip near James Bay in mid-July.
Some time after that, a bear wandered into his campsite, ate his food, damaged his survival equipment and destroyed his canoe, leaving him alone with the dog.
A few days after the attack, Mr Lavoie used a rock to bash in the head of his German shepherd before eating the animal, a source close to the rescue told the Canadian news agency QMI.
He was reported missing on October 21 by a friend who was concerned he had not been seen since July.
He was stranded at the Nottaway River, about 500 miles north-west of Montreal.
By the time police airlifted him out of the area between Matagami and Waskaganish on Wednesday, he was barely able to speak or eat.
Their helicopter had been unable to land on the uneven terrain, so rescuers had to walk more than a mile to reach him.
He was so weak that they had to carry him on their backs to the aircraft, Sergeant Claude Denis told the Montreal Gazette.
"He survived because he made good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them," said survival expert Andre Francois Bourbeau.
Mr Bourbeau told QMI that after 30 days in the wilderness with no food, Mr Lavoie's body would have gone into shock from starvation.
"Hunger squeezes you so much that you would accept food that's not normally possible," he said. "You can crave slugs and bugs."
Source: Sky News, November 3, 2013.
