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Image 1 for Man who survived bear attack gets bitten by a shark - in case you missed it, a much-read PLB news piece from three years ago this week

“And the bear swam out to that peak and bit me on the head . . . right after the shark came into my tent and grabbed my leg . . . “

Image 2 for Man who survived bear attack gets bitten by a shark - in case you missed it, a much-read PLB news piece from three years ago this week

All jokes aside, that’s Dylan’s head after being inside a bear’s mouth and his leg after tangling with a tiger shark – depending on how you view it, he’s either the luckiest or unluckiest man alive.

Man who survived bear attack gets bitten by a shark - in case you missed it, a much-read PLB news piece from three years ago this week

26 May 21


"I don't blame the shark, I don't blame the bear, and I don't blame the rattlesnake," the victim said.

For some reason, the animal kingdom has it in for Dylan McWilliams.

On Thursday, the 20-year-old resident of Grand Junction, Colorado, was bitten by a shark while boogie-boarding off the island of Kauai, Hawaii.

This is less than a year after McWilliams was attacked by a 300-pound black bear while camping in Boulder County, Colorado, according to CBS Denver.

McWilliams was about 30 yards from shore when he was knocked off his board and suddenly felt a searing pain in his right leg.

“At first I panicked,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “I didn’t know if I lost half my leg or what.”

McWilliams said he believes the animal that attacked him was a 6 to 8-foot tiger shark — he saw the stripes — and he kicked it hard before attempting to swim to shore.

“That was the scariest part. I didn’t know where the shark was, and I didn’t know if he would come after me again,” he told the paper.

McWilliams did make it to shore where bystanders helped him get to an emergency room.

Although the injury wasn’t life-threatening, McWilliams suffered some deep cuts based on the photos he posted on Facebook.

Although an experience like that might make some afraid of future ocean swims, McWilliams was mad the cuts kept him from boogie-boarding.

“I’m just mad that I can’t get back in the water for a couple days,” McWilliams told Hawaiian TV station KGMB.

Of course, McWilliams is almost used to being attacked by large creatures with big teeth after his bear encounter last year.

“The bear grabbed the back of my head and started pulling me and I was fighting back as best as I could,” he said. “It dropped me and stomped on me a little bit, and I was able to get back to the group and they scared it away.”

Oh, and three years ago, he was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in Utah!

Despite being a magnet for animal attacks, McWilliams holds no grudge: He just figures he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I’ve always loved animals and spent as much time with them as I could,” he told the BBC. “I don’t blame the shark, I don’t blame the bear, and I don’t blame the rattlesnake.” 

 - AUTHOR: DAVID MOYE

 SOURCE: HUFFINGTON POST

As far as we know, Dylan has been living an uneventful life on the animal front these three years past.



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