Aug 2, 2008 7:00 am US/Pacific
Calif. Woman Survives Vicious Bear Attack
Victim, 56, Escapes By Car After Mauling
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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Allena Hansen, 56, was walking her dogs on her California property when a black bear attacked her, on July 22, 2008.
CBS
Doctors say a bear that attacked a woman in California last week ripped part of the victim's scalp, which was left hanging off to the side when she escaped.
Dr. Kimberly Lee of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said Monday the bear also left an indentation in the woman's bone where its claw tore through her face.
Fifty-six-year-old Allena Hansen survived the attack in a rural area of Southern California and drove herself to a nearby fire station.
Hansen was walking her two dogs in the woods on her property July 22 when she was attacked by the 150-pound animal. Her dogs, "Decoy" and "Arky," chased the bear away. Afterwards she managed to get into a vehicle and drive to the fire station, about four miles away.
"What I thought was my calf... actually turned out to be my scalp, and I thought, 'That's enough,'" Hansen said of the ordeal.
Capt. Curt Merrill was one of the first to encounter Hansen after the attack. "It was kind of bizarre, because I asked her her name, and she told me 'Allena Hansen,' and I know Allena Hansen, but I didn't recognize her," he said.
"To get to her car and drive four miles on a dirt road -- unstable dirt road -- to a fire station, is remarkable," Merrill added.
California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano says DNA tests of saliva on the victim's shirt have given a preliminary confirmation that the animal was a black bear.
Fish and Game has called off the search for the bear.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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