Runner wrestles bear in the Japanese woods: ‘In one bite my arm was done’

Billy Halloran being transported to the hospital on October 4 after being attacked by a bear in Myoko, Japan. (Billy Halloran via CNN Newsource)

Billy Halloran knows the woods well in Myoko, Japan; he goes there for regular walks, runs, and even raced an ultramarathon through its rugged wilderness. But two weeks ago, he was running for his life in the same woods – after being attacked by a bear.

Halloran was on one of his routine runs in early October when he saw something he’d never encountered before: two Asiatic black bears.

He immediately knew he was in trouble. Bear attacks have been rising across Japan, with more than 100 people injured so far this year and at least seven killed, the highest since records began in 2006. One recent deadly attack took place just a few miles from where he lives.

Now, he was alone on the trail, kilometers away from where he’d parked his car, contemplating how to escape the two bears staring at him from bushes less than 30 meters away.

When he tried backing away slowly, one bear began moving toward him, said the 32-year-old originally from Auckland, New Zealand. “It was around my size, it was an adult, it was at least 60 or 70 kilos (about 132 to 154 pounds),” he said.

Halloran decided not to run, afraid it would chase and jump onto him from behind. So instead, he tried to scare it off by shouting. “I could see it was going to lunge at me – and it did.”

He held up his arm in front of his face, “and it grabbed my arm, and I got pushed to the ground,” Halloran said.

“Then in one bite, my arm was done.”

The bear then attacked his leg, leaving claw punctures and scratches, before it backed off. Running on adrenaline, Halloran managed to get up, then engaged in a brief “standoff” with the bear – before it disappeared back into the bush.

Terrified it might come back, Halloran called his wife to come and pick him up. With a broken arm and badly injured leg, he managed to run a kilometer to meet her and wait for an ambulance.

He spoke to CNN from the hospital where he’s been recovering for the past two weeks, having had three surgeries – including a hip graft to cover a chunk of bone that had been bitten off, and the insertion of metal plates into his arm.

A long road of recovery still awaits, including physical rehabilitation. After his last ultramarathon, he’d been hoping to train for more races – and still plans to – but knows it won’t be the same as before.

A bigger challenge might be facing the lingering trauma of the attack, which he compared to “how someone getting attacked by a shark might feel like trying to go back surfing.”

But he’s determined to get back to running in the woods, crediting the local community of runners that have supported him throughout his recovery. And he feels fortunate, he said, because “there’s been a lot of attacks, and some people haven’t been so lucky.”

In recent months, other bear incidents have included bears rampaging through a supermarket, loitering outside a nursery, and severely mutilating a man while he was cleaning an outdoor bath.

Experts say bears are increasingly venturing out of their traditional habitats and into urban areas in search of food because climate change is interfering with the flowering and pollination of some of the animals’ traditional sources of food.

In response to this deadly surge, the Japanese government announced on Friday that it will take tougher measures to control the bear population.

Many residents take precautions like carrying bells or blasting music out loud to scare away bears. Next time, Halloran said he might consider carrying bear spray.

“I’m just a bit more cautious about what I’m going to be doing,” he said. But, he quipped, winter is arriving soon – and once he heals, he’s looking forward to “some snowboarding and (getting) the mental state back a little bit more, and (getting back) into nature.”

By Jessie Yeung