Condition of American lawyer attacked by polar bear improving
Dave Kaufman, QMI Agency
First posted: Sunday, July 28, 2013 04:36 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, July 28, 2013 07:55 PM EDT
Lawyer Matt Dyer addresses city council in Lewiston, Maine in this June 11, 2013 file photo.
Dyer is recovering in hospital from bite wounds and broken bones after he was mauled by a polar bear while he slept in his tent in a northern Labrador park early Wednesday.
Russ Dillingham/QMI Agency
MONTREAL - The American lawyer who was attacked by a polar bear while hiking in a National Park in northern Labrador is no longer in critical condition.
Matthew Dyer was mauled early Wednesday morning while on a Sierra Club excursion in the Torngat Mountains National Park when a polar bear attacked him in his tent.
He was flown to Montreal's General Hospital and is recovering in the intensive care unit.
Cinzia Colella, a spokesperson for the McGill University Health Centre, told QMI Agency that "the patient is in stable condition and showing some signs of progress."
In a prepared statement, Sierra Club Program safety manager Todd Duncan said that Dyer "was pulled from his tent at around 2:30 a.m. local time and mauled by a polar bear, suffering bite wounds and broken bones."
Duncan said that Sierra Club's "top priority is and continues to be the safety of everyone who participates in our Outings program. We are investigating the circumstances of this attack, and our thoughts are with the victim and his family."
Dyer and other hikers had been sleeping in an area with an electric bear fence at the time of the attack. It is not know if the hikers erected the fence or if it was already in place.
Maggie Kao, spokesperson for the Sierra Club, told QMI Agency that the excursion was cancelled after the attack and a doctor who was on the excursion with the group treated Dyer until a helicopter came to airlift him from the scene.
The 14-day excursion, called Spirits and Polar Bears: Trek to the Torngat Mountains National Park, Labrador, costs $5,995US. There were two guides on the excursion, as well as room for eight hikers.
The website states that all bear safety equipment is included in the price.
The Parks Canada website states that "Visitors are reminded of the added safety of engaging the services of an Inuit guide who is permitted to carry a firearm, where visitors are not."
According to Kao, the group did not have an Inuit guide and managed to drive the bear away with flare guns.
The Sierra Club's website says that their trips to the Arctic "carry an element of risk." However, it also states, "You're in good hands, though, so don't worry: Your trip leaders have vast experience in the Last Frontier, and they'll provide all the guidance you need."
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