He Survived Encounter With Mother Grizzly—Initially

A Canadian man who survived a grizzly attack by fighting back with his fists has died of complications from his injuries more than three weeks after the encounter. Joe Pendry, a 63-year-old former boxer, was hunting elk near Fort Steele in British Columbia's East Kootenay region on Oct. 2 when the mother bear charged him, per the CBC and Canadian Press. According to his wife, Janice, the bear at one point had Pendry's head in her jaws, but the outdoorsman managed to punch and even bite the bear in return before shooting her in the leg. The animal, which had been accompanied by two cubs, was later found dead by authorities.

Pendry—who suffered gruesome injuries, including a torn scalp and numerous broken bones—initially appeared to be recovering at Kelowna General Hospital, where he was able to walk with assistance. "The night before, he was doing just fine. He was laughing, he was kidding ... joking around being the old Joe," his wife said. However, he died unexpectedly on Saturday, with doctors attributing his death to a blood clot that caused cardiac arrest. His daughter, Tiffany Aubin, described her father as "courageous and strong," saying the family will remember the hunter with a "heart of gold" whenever "the leaves change color" or "the wind blows."