[at-l] Bear Story!

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Quebecker wins U.S. bravery award
Associated Press 


http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031222.wbear1222/BNStory/National/

Pittsburgh ? A Quebec man was awarded a Carnegie Medal for bravery on Monday 
for saving two friends by fighting off a polar bear with a pocket knife two 
years ago on Baffin Island

Dr. Eric Fortier, 34, of Gatineau, Que., used a pocket knife to attack a 
polar bear on Baffin Island, just south of the Arctic Circle, to save two friends 
who were being mauled.

"All of the research and all of the preparation I did leading up to the trip 
gave no indication that there were bears in the Soper [River] valley where we 
were canoeing," Dr. Fortier said.

Dr. Fortier, an orthodontist, learned there was at least one polar bear in 
the central region of Baffin Island in July 2001 when he felt what he thought 
was a dog leaning on his tent wall.

"My first thought was to push it away," he said.

"A few seconds later my girlfriend saw the shadow of a bear's paw through the 
tent fly and then it started ripping through the ceiling."

The polar bear is more dangerous than most other bears. The latter usually 
consider human beings a threat but the polar bear considers humans a snack, 
experts said.

The two screamed to frighten the bear and warn their friends in a tent 
several metres away but the bear ripped into that tent and began mauling 31-year-old 
Alain Parenteau.

"Their screams changed," Dr. Fortier said.

"I grabbed my glasses and my knife and unzipped my tent and headed out."

The bear dwarfed the 6-foot-1 Mr. Parenteau, knocking him to the ground, he 
said.

Dr. Fortier threw a large rock at the bear, distracting it and allowing 
Parenteau to escape but it then turned on 25-year-old Patricia Doyon, who was in 
the same tent. Again Dr. Fortier threw rocks at the bear and again its target 
was able to escape.

"The bear gave chase and I gave chase," he said.

"At some point, Patricia tripped or the bear tripped her and was at her back. 
I was beside the bear's head and I stabbed it with an upper cut below the jaw 
in the neck a couple of times."

The bear ran off. While there was some fur and blood on the nine-centimetre 
blade, Dr. Fortier said he doesn't think he hurt the bear badly. Both Mr. 
Parenteau and Ms. Doyon, however, were bleeding badly.

Dr. Fortier and his girlfriend lashed two canoes together and paddled eight 
kilometres along the Soper River. Dr. Fortier travelled another three 
kilometres by foot to seek help in the nearest settlement.

Both Mr. Parenteau and Ms. Doyon were airlifted to a hospital and survived, 
though Mr. Parenteau had a gash within a centimetre of his jugular, Dr. Fortier 
said.

Dr. Fortier was one of 15 people to receive the Carnegie Medal on Monday. The 
bronze medal is given to people who "risk their lives to an extraordinary 
degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others."

The other Canadian recipient of the medal was Ronald Joseph Crawford, 42, of 
Hamilton, who was killed Aug. 4, 2002, while trying to defend a Hamilton 
sandwich shop owner from a robber wielding a knife. Mr. Crawford threw several 
punches at the assailant before he was stabbed in the heart.

U.S. industrialist Andrew Carnegie started a hero fund in 1904 after being 
inspired by rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. The 
award comes with a $3,500 (U.S.) grant.