Man in Washington State Survives Second Bear Attack in Four Years

iStock/Thinkstock(SEATTLE) — A man in Washington state has been attacked by a bear not once, but twice.

The man, who asked ABC News Seattle station KOMO to refer to him only as Bob, most recently was attacked by a bear on April 16 after his dog spooked the animal, he said.

The incident at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, about 45 miles south of Seattle, was like deja-vu because just four years ago, on the same trail, running with the same dog, Bob was attacked by a bear, he told KOMO. That time, he said, he “rolled up in a ball and stayed still.”

This time, he chose to fight back, saying he grabbed a tree branch and braced for the blitz. The bear bit him more than 40 times and lashed at him with its claws, he told KOMO.

“It would whip around, do this 180 and go for my leg, my shoulders, my head, and just come in and bite me again, and I would just try to nail it when it came in,” Bob told KOMO.

Wildlife officials never found the first bear, but the second time, they made sure to take down what they believe was the 300-pound attacker. Bob wonders if it could have been the same bear that attacked him in 2011.

Washington wildlife officials said the odds of being attacked twice are nearly impossible. A third event is out of the question for Bob, who said he won’t be visiting those woods anymore because he’s “just getting too old to fight ‘em anymore.”

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