Northwest College wrestlers hospitalized following bear attack

A college wrestler from a small Wyoming school helped his teammate survive a grizzly mauling over the weekend by trying to wrestle the massive bear off his friend, eventually drawing a more brutal attack to himself.

The men are crediting their bonds as wrestling teammates at Northwest College in Cody, Wyoming, with helping them survive the attack Saturday night southeast of Yellowstone National Park.

Brady Lowry, of Cedar City, Utah, suffered a broken arm and puncture wounds in the initial attack after they surprised the bear while searching for antlers shed by elk and deer in the Shoshone National Forest.

«The bear came running out of the trees. I didn't even see it until it was right in front of me, but I heard the crashing,» Lowry told ABC News in an interview that aired Wednesday on «Good Morning America.» «The only thing I could yell is: 'Bear! Bear!' I just knew I had to protect my head and just kind of fight for life, you know — it's life or death.»

His teammate, Kendell Cummings, of Evanston, Wyoming, tried to stop the attack on Lowry by yelling, kicking and hitting the bear and pulling on its fur.

«I didn't want to lose my friend. It was bad,» Cummings told the Deseret News. «There was a big ol' bear on top of him. I could have run and potentially lost a friend or get him off and save him.»

The bear quickly turned its fury onto Cummings.

«It knocked me onto the ground and then, with its head, pushed me on the ground all the way up against the trees and then kind of pinned me up there and it was attacking me,» Cummings told ABC News. «I was putting my hands in its mouth and stuff, so it wouldn't be chewing on my neck and everything.»

Cummings said the bear eventually walked away but was gone only briefly.

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