Hunter Dies Weeks After Encounter With Mother Grizzly
Joe Pendry (GoFundMe)
A Canadian man who bravely fought off a grizzly bear with his bare hands has died from complications of his injuries more than three weeks after the attack.
Joe Pendry, 63, a retired boxer and experienced outdoorsman, was hunting elk near Fort Steele in British Columbia’s East Kootenay region on October 2 when he was suddenly charged by a mother grizzly with two cubs, according to reports from CBC and the Canadian Press.
Pendry’s wife, Janice, said the bear at one point had her husband’s head in its jaws, but he refused to give up—punching and even biting the bear in a desperate struggle for survival before managing to shoot it in the leg. Authorities later found the bear dead nearby.
Pendry sustained severe injuries, including a torn scalp and multiple broken bones, and was hospitalized at Kelowna General Hospital. Despite the extent of his wounds, he showed remarkable progress—walking with assistance and even joking with family. “The night before, he was doing just fine. He was laughing, he was kidding … joking around being the old Joe,” Janice said.
Tragically, Pendry died unexpectedly on Saturday after suffering a fatal blood clot that caused cardiac arrest.
His daughter, Tiffany Aubin, remembered her father as “courageous and strong,” adding that the family will always think of him—“with his heart of gold”—whenever “the leaves change color” or “the wind blows.”
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