money Texas man bitten by bear camping in Glorieta
Aug. 13—Campers may want to think twice about roughing it under the stars.
One camper, a Texas man, said he is lucky to be alive after an encounter with a black bear when he was "cowboy camping" on a property neighboring Santa Fe National Forest in Glorieta.
Paul Georgoulis, 24, said he was awakened by a loud sniffing sound. Next thing he knew, his head was between the jaws of a roughly 300-pound bear.
"I scream as loud as I can, right in its ears, and it kind of lumbers off," Georgoulis said Thursday evening.
"The phrase 'life flashed before your eyes,' I don't think is really a very accurate phrase of what I experienced, but I can't think of any better way to say it," he added.
Georgoulis was traveling from Colorado to Texas when he stopped in Santa Fe. He planned to leave the same day, but after it got late he decided to camp out on his friend Dean Dommer's property.
The moment Georgoulis had the chance to escape from the bear's grasp, he ran to Dommer's cabin, bleeding from a gash on his head that would need 16 staples.
"It was 3:30 in the morning, and he was running for the house screaming and bleeding," Dommer said.
The pair rushed to a nearby hospital, where Georgoulis was treated and given a clean bill of health.
"I was really worried because when that bear grabbed me. ... I heard a bit of a crunching sound. Luckily my CT scan came back OK," Georgoulis said.
Dommer said bears are common in the Glorieta area, but noted there are far more this year than previously. He suspects the recent wildfires may have displaced wildlife and forced bears to find new habitat.
Georgoulis said he has had encounters with bears before, but he said these kinds of incidents are rare, especially for black bears. According to the U.S. National Park Service
the chances of being injured by a bear are roughly 1 in
2.1 million.
Georgoulis said he is a living statistic now. Though Georgoulis knows the bear could have easily taken his life, he said doesn't blame it for what happened.
"I think really what happened was there was a curious bear in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "It felt more like it was kind of trying to gently pick up my head and drag it somewhere else, if that makes any sense. Like I think he thought it was like an inanimate object kind of a thing that smelled good."
Georgoulis said he made sure to pack away food that may attract bears and thinks it may have been enticed by the smell of his shampoo or toothpaste.
Neither of the men reported the incident to wildlife authorities. They said they didn't think the bear was trying to attack Georgoulis and are concerned it could be put down if it were reported.
Georgoulis said the encounter is not going to stop him from going camping again, but will probably use a tent and take greater precautions next time he is in bear country.
"There are definitely some big emotions that come along with this that I have to process, but I don't think any of it is going to deter me from going back outside," he said.
