Bear Attack Survivor Gives Bedside Interview

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Samuel Gottsegen, a 17 year old from Denver, was walking through the tall brush and trees in the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska when a wild, snarling grizzly bear attacked.

Not once, but twice the bear attacked Gottsegen for about two minutes this past Saturday night.

"I can remember this moment when it bit down on my head," said Gottsegen who's now recovering at a hospital in Anchorage, "and I was just thinking I'm going, to die. I kept saying I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die."

The attack came as the group of seven teenagers, including Gottsegen, was nearing the end of the 30-day survival course. As a part of the program they were trying out their skills without adults around.

In a bedside hospital interview Gottsegen told reporters about the attack that left him with multiple slash marks on his torso, and a punctured lung.

"It didn't hurt at all," Gottsegen said. "He took some good chunks but I think it was just so much adrenaline, and panic that the pain I really set in later when I was laying down."

After the attack Gottsegen said the bear turned on the other teens. Officials think the bear was aggressive because it was with its cub.

Contact Rebecca Palsha at rpalsha@ktuu.com