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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

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THIS WEEK'S HEADLINES

• Homer preps for swine flu

• Pebble’s progress necessarily slow

• A dozen candidates file for city, borough offices

• Mayor Carey warns of ‘brown-outs’

• FYI

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

• In a cave . . . in the rain

• Jewel Kilcher returns home

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• Voz Cougars dominate eight-man football field

• Homer turns out in pink to run for the cure

• Homer Halibut derby standings

FEATURE

• When pigs fly

• Ninilchik pair finds net mending a dying art

BUSINESS

YOUTH

• Youth get creative about climate change

Bear mauls North Fork man

By Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune

May 31, 2006

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson

Mike Mungoven

Mike Mungoven had two thoughts flood his mind as he stumbled into a large grizzly on his morning run off North Fork Road on Sunday.
“I looked up at this huge bear standing just two feet in front of me, the sun shining off its golden-brown fur,” Mun-goven said. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s just beautiful.’ And then, ‘Oh boy, this is going to hurt.’”
Mungoven was out on his regular run Sunday morning – the same path up to Epperson Knob that he has taken every morning for several years.
“I always run with my dogs, and remind them to be careful around this particular area because the forest there is more dense with black spruce,” Mun-goven said. “Next thing I knew, I heard some rust-ling in the woods and the bear was standing two feet in front of me.”
Mungoven and the bear stared at each other momentarily, and then the bear reacted.
“The bear got me across the shoulder first, then took a couple more swipes at me,” he said. “I went down and curled up into a fetal position.”
It was a move that Mungoven had been taught many times in the past, and possibly what saved his life.
“It really worked pretty well,” he said. “I just played dead. The bear came back and bit me a couple more times and then left me alone.”
Mungoven said he speculated that the bear was possibly a female protecting her cubs, as he thought he heard some mewing sounds coming from the woods behind her.
“I really think the bear actually showed quite a bit of kindness in the way she mauled me,” Mungoven said.
Thomas McDonough, assistant area biologist with Fish and Game, said the four bear maulings on the Kenai Peninsula last year were similar in that they were cases of people surprising bears. And, so far, this case seems to be similar in that the surprise incited a defensive response. McDonough said this was the first reported mauling of the year.
“It seems that it was just a case of surprise in the woods, and in cases like that, it is not a predatory way,” McDonough said. “But if a bear has chronically been a problem, we would certainly want to take care of that bear by either trapping it or dispatching it.”
Mungoven said he had heard from neighbors recently that they believe they spotted the bear again during Memorial Day celebrations on Monday.
“We have a potluck for Memorial Day in our neighborhood every year,” he said. “Neighbors said they saw the bear across the field during the volleyball game Monday afternoon. I heard they were planning to have bear-kabobs later.”
Mungoven said he was unsure the number of stitches he received during his 11 hours of surgery, but said he knew there were several puncture wounds that doctors had to cut open to clean out.
“The attack itself really wasn’t very painful,” Mungoven said. “She missed my carotid artery and only got a few bites in. I guess I was lucky all the way around.”
After hearing the bear disappear into the woods, Mungoven said he called after his dogs several times.
“They were at the road, waiting for me to come out of the woods,” he said. “They were just sitting there like, ‘OK, when you’re done playing with the bear, we’ll be right here waiting for you.’”
Without a cell phone or transportation, and losing blood from his injuries, Mungoven hiked the more than 1,000 yards back up to his house.
“It’s not the first time I’ve walked in the door and said, ‘Honey, we need to go to the emergency room,’” he said. “I don’t really think she was expecting a bear attack, though.”
In fact, Mungoven’s work with the Natural Resource Conservation Services as a soil mapper is usually what causes concern for Mungoven’s family.
“I do a lot of work out in the field, and our motto is to never come back with bear stories,” he said. “We avoid them as much as possible.”
In fact, this was Mungoven’s first mauling by a bear.
“It’s my only bear mauling,” he corrected.
The irony of working so closely to bears in the field without incident, and then being mauled by a bear less than a mile from his home isn’t lost on Mungoven. However, he’s more interested in looking on the bright side of things right now.
“My injuries were really not so bad, considering the damage she could have done,” Mungoven said. “It’s definitely a unique event.”
Although it does not appear to be the situation in this attack, McDonough reminded the public that troopers are writing citations for people who leave food or trash out that bears could get into.
“Everyone needs to take responsibility to properly stow away attractants that would bring in bears,” he said. “Alaskans need to keep in mind they are in bear country, even if they are in somewhat residential surroundings.”
When hiking, McDonough advised people to travel in groups of at least four and make a lot of noise.
For more information on living in harmony with the Peninsula’s bear population can be found on the state’s Web site at www.wildlife.alaska.gov and clicking on the Alaska’s Bears link under All About Wildlife.
Encountering a bear and surviving a mauling isn’t an experience many people can claim and might cause some to consider Mungoven to be a relatively tough character.
“Oh I’m not tough,” Mungoven stressed. “I was scared to death.”

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