California woman Emily Miles clawed, bitten in bear attack

Mike Gallagher

Sep 26, 2014 - 08:37

Sep 26, 2014 - 08:49

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California woman Emily Miles clawed, bitten in bear attack

Horrific: These are the gaping wounds Emily Miles, 65, was left with after a vicious encounter with a black bear

A 65-year-old woman narrowly survived a vicious encounter with a 300lb black bear that tackled her to the ground, cracked her rib, a sunk its teeth into her thigh.

Emily Miles was walking her two dogs in an avocado grove in Santa Barbara, Califoia, when the six-foot animal burst out of the trees and reared onto its hind legs.

She ran but not fast enough to out-manoeuvre the bear, which took one swipe of its claw that shredded her shirt, leaving three-inch-deep wounds.

Hitting the ground, she cracked a rib as the beast took a bite out of her thigh.

Incredibly, as Miles thought she was on the brink of death, she then stared the bear in the eye - and it cowered onto all fours before retreating into the woods.

'Looking at him, I knew he could kill me in an instant,' she told KEYT-TV.

'He was probably 300 pounds and 6 feet tall, standing. He spared me, and I thank God he did.'

'He took me down. He grabbed me, sunk his teeth into my thigh and knocked me down,' she said.