College wrestler mauled after saving teammate from grizzly bear attack in Wyoming
A college wrestler stepped in to help his teammate during a grizzly bear attack and ended up getting mauled himself.
Both survived, and two of their teammates helped them to safety before emergency responders transported them to nearby hospitals. The attack took place on Saturday in Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest near the Montana border and Yellowstone National Park.
Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry — wrestlers from nearby Northwest College — were hiking in the woods while searching for antlers shed by deer and elk. That's when they say a grizzly bear surprised them out of the trees and attacked Lowry.
The bear grabbed hold of Lowry's arm and was “biting my back, my butt, my shoulder,” he told the Deseret News. Cummings attempted to distract the bear by throwing things and yelling, then tried to pull the bear away from his teammate.
“I didn’t want to lose my friend," Cummings told the News. "It was bad. 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."
That's when the bear turned its focus on 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 on Wednesday. "I was putting my hands in its mouth and stuff, so it wouldn't be chewing on my neck and everything."
Cummings said the the bear eventually relented and walked away, only to circle back for a second attack. Thats when it bit down on his head.
"I could hear when his teeth would hit my skull, I could feel when he'd bite down on my bones and they'd kind of crunch," Cummings said.
The bear then "went away again for whatever reason," according to Cummings.
Local wildlife officials described the attack to the Deseret News as "a sudden, surprise encounter with a grizzly bear.”
At that point, the attack was over, and Lowry shifted his focus to getting both off the mountain to safety. Lowry, not sure at that point if Cummings would survive, told the Deseret News that he climbed up a ridge to find cell service and called 911.
Two of their teammates, August Harrison and Orrin Jackson, were also on the outing and eventually connected with their injured friends. They helped them down the mountain and coordinated with emergency dispatchers to meet at the trailhead roughly six miles away. Harrison described Cummings as "a bloody mess" when he first saw him.
"His head was painted red everywhere,” he told the News.
He said that he and Jackson took turns carrying Cummings down the mountain and that Cummings was eventually able to walk part of the way. Lowry was able to walk on his own. When they reached the trailhead, emergency responders flew Cummings to Billings Clinic Hospital in Montana.
Cummings underwent multiple surgeries to treat lacerations to his head and face. Lowry, who was transported to a hospital via ambulance, suffered a compound fracture of his left arm. Their wrestling coach Jim Zeigler told the Deseret News that both sustained puncture wounds, cuts and bruises. Cummings came out of surgery with 60 staples on his face and head. He'd recovered from his injuries enough on Wednesday to provide his account of the attack to ABC News.
Coming up at 5 on @KSL5TV: A wrestler from Utah attacked by a grizzly bear in Wyoming, he and his teammate who was also attacked spoke exclusively with me from their hospital in Montana. The young men say they’re alive today because of their teammates. #ksltv pic.twitter.com/CDGLgIbs9h
— Shara Park ✨ (@KSLSharaPark) October 17, 2022
Lowry's father Dallas told KSLTV from the hospital that Cummings saved his son's life.
“When I showed up here, that whole wrestling team was here, sat with these guys for two days solid,” Dallas said. “That young man over there – Kendell is a hero. Any normal person would have turned and ran, but these bonds that they build in college athletics lasts forever.”
Cummings is a sophomore who competes at 141 pounds. Lowry is a redshirt sophomore who competes at 149 pounds.
Wyoming wildlife officials told the Associated Press that they would not attempt to locate, capture or kill the bear because it was a surprise attack and that it would be difficult to identify the bear with several other grizzly bears in the area.
