A Swedish man who was attacked by a bear while hunting with his son has taken “ultimate revenge” on the animal by killing it – then turning it into kebabs, meatballs and more.
Pär Sundström, 42, and his son Evert, 14 at the time, were hunting in woods near the central Swedish town of Ljusdal last August when they were attacked by the brown bear.
The duo saw the predator approaching them before it came for Pär, knocking him down and savaging his face in an attack which ripped off his right cheek.
Evert heroically tried to stop the bear – hitting the bear on its head before the predator turned on the teenager and bit his arm in a diversion which saved his dad’s life.
The 42-year-old killed and ate the brown bear, thousands of which can be found in Sweden
Social media/Magnus Johansson via Flickr
With the bear and Sundström’s son locked in a brutal tussle, the 42-year-old father was able to grab his rifle and shoot the animal dead.
Over half a year since the attack, Sundström, who has undergone reconstructive surgery and is still waiting for more, has spoken out about the ordeal – and what happened to the bear.
Immediately after the incident, the pair had their furry attacker butchered and took delivery of bags of its frozen meat to their home.
Since then, the family has been making their way through a whole freezer’s worth of bear meat dishes.
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The gruesome attack took place in picturesque woodland like this near Ljusdal
Wikimedia Commons
“We've done leafy bits, bear's leg, bear kebab - it was good, we made bear meatballs for Christmas and bear meat sauce”, Sundström told Swedish outlet Aftonbladet.
He continued: “We had decided from the beginning that if we kill a bear, we will make tacos with the meat.
“And the bear we killed had mostly eaten plants, so the meat is fine to eat… Bears that have lived on carrion, they smell like sour herring. You can smell it in the forest when they have just been there.
“The meat is dark, coarse-fibred, sweet, and it requires a lot of spices. Double the amount to make tacos, and then let the meat simmer for several hours.
Sundström still requires more reconstructive surgery after the attack
Social media
“Making tacos from a bear that bit me in the face must be the ultimate revenge.”
Both father and son have found fame following the attack; Evert said he had had to tell the story to schoolmates around twenty times, and the pair were invited to a hunting gala in the mountain village of Järvsö.
But the 42-year-old said the attack which hospitalised him left him with nightmares.
Sundström said: “I had nightmares for the first few days, about when the bear first comes up to me, when I realise it's almost over.
“Then I started dreaming about when I get back on my feet, when the bear bites Evert and I hear Evert's screams of anguish, while he's fighting for his life… This went on for a while. But as soon as I left the hospital, the nightmares disappeared.”
The father’s initial treatment left him breathing through a valve in his nose and attracting unwelcome stares in public.
But further operations, scheduled for later this year in the city of Uppsala, will see him receiving skin grafts, a new nose and corrective surgery around his eyes.
He said: “[The bear] didn't have a lot of teeth, and I'm glad for that. Otherwise, I would have looked even worse.”