After a surprise encounter earlier this month with a female grizzly and her cubs, the Massachusetts man is telling his side of the story.
In what marked Wyoming’s first bear attack of the 2024 season, 35-year-old Shayne Patrick Burke is no stranger to sticky situations. With multiple deployments to Iraq and a brain tumor under his belt, he was once again tested while on his honeymoon with his wife in Grand Teton National Park.
The pair were separated when Burke went off on his own in an attempt to locate a great gray owl in what he considered to be a “hot spot” for the feathered raptors. As he ventured further off tack, he decided it was time to head back to the rendezvous point and meet up again with his new bride.
It wasn’t long before he felt as though he was in a precarious position.
“I had a really uncomfortable feeling,” he wrote. “I was breaking branches, singing and talking to myself aloud. These are some things that can help prevent a ‘surprise encounter’ with a brown bear.”
It was at this moment that the veteran spotted a grizzly bear cub heading up a hill a mere 50 yards away. Almost immediately, he felt the pursuit of the sow who was now closing the distance at a lightning speed. He grabbed his can of bear spray and readied it as best he could for deployment, but it was too late.
“When she pounced, I opted to turn and give her my back,” he wrote. “I laid down in the prone position on my belly and braced for the ride, interlocking my hands behind my neck to protect my vitals.”
The bear took a chunk of his right shoulder and then moved to his legs, thrashing him around as if he was a play toy of some sort.
“I still had my hands interlocked and my arms protecting my carotid arteries,” he said. “I never let go of the bear spray can.”
Going for what Burke believed to be the kill, the grizzly went for the jugular of her victim and instead of the flesh of his neck, she bit directly into the can of bear spray that remained in Burke’s hand during the attack.
“As she bit my hands in the back of my neck, she simultaneously bit the bear spray can, and it exploded in her mouth,” he posted. “This is what saved my life from the initial attack.”
After the explosion from the can, the bears vanished into the woods. Once he was able to confirm that his attacker was gone, Burke went into survival mode, doing his best to treat his wounds and alert others about his condition.
“I applied improvised tourniquets to my legs,” he wrote. “At this point, I knew that I didn’t have any arterial bleeds, and I just needed to slow the bleeding in my legs. My wife was on the phone helping talk through using what I had on me.”
He was eventually able to get through to 911 and patiently waited on rescue teams to locate him.
“Once the helicopter spotted me, I tried to crawl to a clearing so they could reach me easier,” he wrote. “At this time, the first ranger showed up and started his assessment. Hypothermia was one of the biggest concerns at this point. I was alert and responsive.”
He was airlifted to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson for immediate surgery and, while he is now home, remains in recovery mode. Of the harrowing account of his experience, he remains positive, stating simply that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As he was being treated by Park Rangers, he made it vehemently clear that he did not want the bear to be killed, a sentiment the National Park Service echoed following their investigation.
