spectr17
08-20-2002, 05:36 PM
Wounded man flown to Alberta
Family upset man mauled by grizzly not treated in B.C.
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Jack Keating, The Province, Vancouver Canada.com
August 20, 2002
http://media.canada.com/scripts/locate.asp?id=e654a8d6-376a-421e-97c2-8b4dc4c47d17
Bob Saunderson awaits airlift from Fort St. John yesterday.
A 39-year-old Surrey man is recovering in an Edmonton hospital after being badly mauled by a grizzly bear in northern B.C.
Bob Saunderson was attacked Friday evening while hunting moose on a family hunting trip in the back woods northwest of Fort St. John.
"He's very lucky to be alive," his wife Debbie Saunderson said last night.
The heavy-duty mechanic suffered a lacerated scalp, broken collarbone and a crushed shoulder.
"He's been in the operating room twice, getting the tissue in his arm and muscles reconstructed and cleaned out and they're going to be working on the bone fracture on Thursday," said his wife. "He had 30 stitched in his head."
Paul Engel, Bob Saunderson's brother-in-law, said they were hunting with Bob's father and Engel's 10-year-old son, Jeremy, when they stumbled upon a pair of grizzlies.
The grizzlies rushed towards the moose hunters without warning.
"We just happened to be in their turf," he said. " I turn around and here's this grizzly 20 to 30 feet from me, coming at full bore.
"So, I shot that bear. And then the other bear was on Bob, who got off two shots into the bear and then the bear nailed him.
"Dad's been hunting up there for 40 years and Bob's been hunting up there since he's been 10," said Engel. "And we've never been attacked. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Engel and Saunderson's dad rushed the seriously injured victim to a bush camp where they knew there was a helicopter and an industrial first-aid attendant.
"It was something out of a Vietnam movie," said Engel of his brother-in-law's blood-drenched body. "If we didn't get him out of the bush that night by helicopter he would have died."
Saunderson was stabilized and flown by helicopter to Fort St. John and then shipped to Dawson Creek before being flown to hospital in Edmonton, which is known to accept patients from northeastern B.C.
Engel said he and the rest of the family are angry his brother-in-law was sent out of province for care.
"The only reason they sent him to Alberta is because no one in B.C. would take him," he said.
"There were no beds in British Columbia, period. It's pathetic.
"This is absolutely, positively ridiculous" said Engel. "You've got to take care of your own. We need to take care of our own people. And if we can't do that, then there's a major problem."
Debbie Saunderson said she's upset her daughters, aged seven and three, can't see their dad because "he's in Alberta."
Health officials could not be reached.
jkeating@pacpress.southam.ca
Family upset man mauled by grizzly not treated in B.C.
###
Jack Keating, The Province, Vancouver Canada.com
August 20, 2002
http://media.canada.com/scripts/locate.asp?id=e654a8d6-376a-421e-97c2-8b4dc4c47d17
Bob Saunderson awaits airlift from Fort St. John yesterday.
A 39-year-old Surrey man is recovering in an Edmonton hospital after being badly mauled by a grizzly bear in northern B.C.
Bob Saunderson was attacked Friday evening while hunting moose on a family hunting trip in the back woods northwest of Fort St. John.
"He's very lucky to be alive," his wife Debbie Saunderson said last night.
The heavy-duty mechanic suffered a lacerated scalp, broken collarbone and a crushed shoulder.
"He's been in the operating room twice, getting the tissue in his arm and muscles reconstructed and cleaned out and they're going to be working on the bone fracture on Thursday," said his wife. "He had 30 stitched in his head."
Paul Engel, Bob Saunderson's brother-in-law, said they were hunting with Bob's father and Engel's 10-year-old son, Jeremy, when they stumbled upon a pair of grizzlies.
The grizzlies rushed towards the moose hunters without warning.
"We just happened to be in their turf," he said. " I turn around and here's this grizzly 20 to 30 feet from me, coming at full bore.
"So, I shot that bear. And then the other bear was on Bob, who got off two shots into the bear and then the bear nailed him.
"Dad's been hunting up there for 40 years and Bob's been hunting up there since he's been 10," said Engel. "And we've never been attacked. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Engel and Saunderson's dad rushed the seriously injured victim to a bush camp where they knew there was a helicopter and an industrial first-aid attendant.
"It was something out of a Vietnam movie," said Engel of his brother-in-law's blood-drenched body. "If we didn't get him out of the bush that night by helicopter he would have died."
Saunderson was stabilized and flown by helicopter to Fort St. John and then shipped to Dawson Creek before being flown to hospital in Edmonton, which is known to accept patients from northeastern B.C.
Engel said he and the rest of the family are angry his brother-in-law was sent out of province for care.
"The only reason they sent him to Alberta is because no one in B.C. would take him," he said.
"There were no beds in British Columbia, period. It's pathetic.
"This is absolutely, positively ridiculous" said Engel. "You've got to take care of your own. We need to take care of our own people. And if we can't do that, then there's a major problem."
Debbie Saunderson said she's upset her daughters, aged seven and three, can't see their dad because "he's in Alberta."
Health officials could not be reached.
jkeating@pacpress.southam.ca