A Swedish man attacked by a bear while out hunting lost a sizeable chuck of his face. Photo / screenshot / 123rf
A Swedish man attacked by a bear while out hunting lost a sizeable chuck of his face. Photo / screenshot / 123rf
A Swedish hunter who was bitten in the face by a wild bear before shooting it dead has taken “ultimate revenge” by turning the animal’s meat into tacos, kebabs and a rich goulash.
Pär Sundstrom, 42, and his 14-year-old son, Evert, were hunting in the forest near the town of Ljusdal in central Sweden in August when they spotted the bear coming towards them. It suddenly charged, bowling Sundstrom to the ground, biting his face and ripping off his right cheek.
His son plucked up the courage to intervene, hitting the bear as hard as he could on the head.
The animal turned on him, biting him on the arm while he kept lashing out with his other arm.
His intervention saved his father’s life and gave him enough time to retrieve his rifle, which had fallen to the ground.
Taking careful aim so that he did not hit his son, Sundstrom shot the bear dead.
‘We will make tacos with the meat’
Six months have now passed and the father and son are recovering from their injuries, with Sundstrom due to undergo further facial surgery.
But they do not lack sustenance because immediately after being shot dead, the bear was butchered by fellow hunters and its meat delivered to their house, where it fills a freezer.
They are now making the most of it, cooking it into a goulash and using it to stuff tacos.
“Making tacos out of a bear that bit me in the face, that must be the ultimate revenge,” Sundstrom told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“We had decided from the beginning that if we kill a bear, we will make tacos with the meat.”
Par Sundstrom underwent 13 hours of surgery after being airlifted to a hospital. Image / Screenshot
Evert, now 15, says that since he returned to school after the summer holidays, he has had to recount his ordeal endlessly to curious classmates.
He said he acted out of instinct when he started hitting the bear. “I got terribly angry and thought I had to do something.”
‘There was blood everywhere’
When Sundstrom shot the bear, he immediately realised how badly injured his face was. The recoil from the rifle, which was pressed into his cheek, “splattered like hell … there was blood everywhere”.
He recalls as he and his son waited for help, they gathered up their possessions and he saw what he thought was “the tongue of the bear” lying in the grass.
“But then I had time to think that I didn’t shoot the bear in the mouth ... and I realised that it was my damn cheek that was lying there,” he said.
He retrieved it and held it in his hand as he was bundled into the back of an ambulance.
“It was a big piece and I didn’t want to waste it because I thought they would be able to sew it back in the hospital.”
Sundstrom was flown by helicopter to hospital, where he underwent 13 hours of surgery.
Attempts to reconnect his mangled cheek failed, so doctors had to rebuild his face using skin from his thigh.
There are about 2800 bears in Sweden and hunting them, based on quotas, is legal.
Last year the number of bears that could be killed was set at 649, the highest number for years. Swedish authorities argue bears are a menace to reindeer herds, which are an important source of income for the indigenous Sami population.
