May 11, 2024 | By: Lakeland News
Ironton Area Man Recovering from Bear Attack
An Ironton area man is recovering from wounds after a bear attacked him Tuesday night.
According to the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office, the man had let his dog out when the bear attacked the dog, and the man went to step in to help the dog.
“A lot of us have dogs. We love our dogs and we would protect our dogs. And I think it was just a natural reaction,” stated Sheriff Eric Klang. “You can actually tell, both from him and his wife, that there is a, you know, that they love their dog and that nobody is going to get in between them and their dog. So they went and they took action right away to try to protect that dog from being injured.”
The attack happened on the 20000 block of Freeman Lane in Ironton Township. Sheriff Klang says the man’s injuries are not life-threatening, but that he did suffer fairly serious injuries.
“You’ll need a little bit of time to recover from that trauma,” Klang said. “He got several stitches in his leg and his face. And they, you know, he doesn’t believe that they were from … the bear swiping at him, but actually biting them or dragging his teeth across his face, his ear, and his leg.”
The bear was gone when deputies arrived on the scene. Authorities are hoping to find the bear but acknowledge that could be difficult.
“Yeah, it’s going to be very difficult to confirm that that was the actual bear,” added Klang. “We did get a good description from the male party that was attacked by the bear. But again, I mean, bears kind of look alike, but this bear didn’t seem right. So I think we’ll look at some bear behavior and look at the the quality of the fur of the bear and see if we can notice anything that’s unusual about this bear.”
Klang says bear attacks are very rare, but he did note there was another bear attack in Crow Wing County in Lake Shore back in 2023.