A Navy veteran and businessman is in critical but stable condition following a bear attack Friday in Montana in which the bear tore off the man’s lower jaw, his family said.
Rudy Noorlander, 61, was helping a hunting party find a deer when the attack occurred, his daughter KateLynn Davis said in a statement. The hunting party had rented all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) from Noorlander’s snowmobiling and ATV rental business, Alpine Adventures, in Big Sky, for the hunt.
(The image above is a file photo and is NOT the actual Montana attack)
Noorlander encountered a bear and instinctively drew his firearm to scare it away “but before he could even have time to react, a different 10-foot tall and far more aggressive bear was on him,” Davis said in a GoFundMe statement. Noorlander reportedly took aim but his gun misfired. Left with no chance to pull out his bear spray, he took to defending himself with his fists. The bear mauled him and “gave him as [sic] what Rudy describes as the most disgusting french [sic] kiss of his life before biting down and tearing off his lower jaw,” per the statement.
Emergency responders were able to airlift a still fully conscious Noorlander to a nearby hospital and then to the University of Utah Hospital.
