Two college wrestlers suffered serious injuries in a grizzly bear attack while hunting for shed antlers with teammates Saturday afternoon in the South Fork outside Cody, Wyoming.
Kendell Cummings of Evanston and Brady Lowry of Cedar City, Utah—both sophomores at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming—were with two other members of the wrestling team when they became separated as they hiked down a mountain, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
A grizzly bear came out of nowhere and began attacking Lowry, and when Cummings rushed in to try to pull the bear off Lowry, the grizzly started attacking him.
All four possessed bear spray, but the attack happened so quickly the two victims had no time to react.
“They’re alive and doing well, for what happened,” Northwest College athletic director Brian Erickson told the Cowboy State Daily.
“We’re praying for those kids and their families and the rest of the team and their coach.”
Northwest College President Lisa Watson stated in a release that the victims were helped to their vehicles by the other teammates and help was summoned.
The Cowboy State Daily reported that multiple people on social media said Park County Search and Rescue and other emergency staff responded to the incident.
Cummings was immediately life-flighted to St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Montana. Lowry was taken to Cody Regional Health by ambulance and a few hours later was life-flighted to Billings.
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Each have already undergone “multiple surgeries,” according to the report, but are expected to live.
“I am so grateful for those who assisted these brave young men in the aftermath of this terrifying ordeal and that no lives were lost,” Watson stated in the release, according to the Cowboy State Daily. “It took quick thinking and no small amount of bravery for this to have ended without tragedy.”
Generic photos courtesy of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and National Park Service.
