It was while relaxing on his cabin's front porch with his loyal German shepherd puppy named Ace that Joe Azougar began hearing what sounded to be "thunder" before he turned to discover a bear closing in. The bear killed the dog in a flurry of "pure mayhem and panic" before smashing through a window of the cabin Azougar had rushed inside of.
Azougar said the bear then proceeded to "maul" him to the point of Azougar's being able to feel the beast's fangs on his exposed skull.
Miraculously surviving the bear attack, Azougar (30) spoke with ABC News as relayed by a report published on Tuesday, May 14 about what it was like to undergo such a mauling, one that left him with 300 stitches applied to his head, back and shoulders.
Speaking from his bed in Lady Minto Hospital in Cochrane, Ontario, Azougar said that "[t]he first thing that the dog did was protect his master and attack the bear ... I heard howling and barking."
Azougar immediately rushed into what he referred to as his 8-by-16 "off-grid" cabin in order to try to contact neighbors via his phone.
"As I looked around I saw him [the bear] drag my lifeless dog Ace into the bush," Azougar said.
It was then that the bear came back, breaking through the cabin's rear window, an experience the man inside will never forget.
"It took my dog and then it came back to kill me. It had death in its eyes," Azougar said.
Azougar then did all he could to get the bear to leave, throwing things, standing on a chair and trying to make himself look as fierce and tall as possible. This strategy, unfortunately, did not work.
"This beast was thirsty for blood. This beast wanted to destroy," Azougar said. "I figured my best chance was to run outside by the street so that someone could find me."
Once again, Azougar seemed to stumble into trouble, as on fleeing the scene, he was tackled by the bear.
"He had four paws on top of me ... he peeled my forehead skin to the back of my head off," Azougar said.
"Then, he turned me over and tried to bite my stomach and hips. That gave me just a few seconds to curl into a ball and protect my head, which exposed my arm pits and shoulder blades."
Azougar was then dragged into a pit by the bear and it was at this point during the melee that the man says he could feel his body become "lifeless."
Luckily for him, two women in a car driving by saw the attack and began honking the car's horn at the bear, who at last ran off.
"I am just thankful to those two angels that saved me. I am thankful to the Almighty for giving me this life," Azougar said.
The bear himself has meanwhile been reported by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources as shot and is undergoing a necropsy in order to determine if he was suffering from some form of disease.
Azougar said he only moved to the cabin where the attack occurred about a month prior in order to escape from the hustle-bustle of busy Toronto. He is determined to go back to the cabin once he's out of the hospital.
"This has not discouraged me. I will be going back to my camp, but I think safety will be more of a concern," Azougar said.
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