A father and son who were attacked by a bear in a forest in Sweden got what they described as “ultimate revenge”: shooting it dead and turning it into kebabs and taco meat.
Pär Sundström, 42, suffered horrific injuries and had to undergo facial reconstruction after the beast slammed him to the ground and bit his cheek amid the attack in Ljusdal, central Sweden, last August.
The hunter attributes his life to his teenage son Evert, who in a desperate attempt to save his brutalized father struck the bear on the head, enraging the beast and stopping the attack.
The snarling animal turned on Evert, bit his arm and tossed him around like a rag doll, but this gave a bloodied Pär enough time to grab his rifle and shoot the bear dead at point-blank range.
Pär was flown to hospital and underwent a series of surgeries to save his face, while Evert underwent treatment for a damaged arm.
But his fellow hunters stayed in the woods to process the bear, packing enough meat to fill the family freezer for months and make kebabs, tacos and goulash.
“Stuffing a taco with the meat of a bear that bit me in the face was truly, in my eyes, the ultimate revenge,” Pär happily told the Swedish newspaper. Aftonbladet.
Pär Sundström, 42, suffered horrific injuries and had to undergo facial reconstruction after the beast slammed him to the ground and bit his cheek amid the attack in Ljusdal, central Sweden, last August.
The snarling animal turned on Evert, bit his arm and threw him around like a rag doll, but this gave a bloodied Pär enough time to grab his rifle and shoot the bear dead.
Evert is seen lying in a hospital bed shortly after undergoing surgery on his arm.
The attack unfolded in August 2023, when Pär and Evert, then 14 years old, embarked on a hunting trip with several friends.
They were walking through the woods when the bear, a large female, emerged from the trees and charged toward them.
Pär was armed with his rifle and managed to shoot the bear as it lunged at him, but was unable to prevent the huge animal from knocking him to the ground and tearing his flesh.
Evert, who was just meters away from his father at the time of the attack, told Swedish media: “I got really angry and thought I had to do something… I practice karate and I ran forward and hit the bear’s head.” as tight as I could with my hand clenched. So I don’t remember anything.
That’s because the bear bit his arm and began to thrash, crushing Evert into the year and to the ground in a fit of rage.
But Evert’s brave intervention prevented the bear from devouring his father and gave the seriously injured Pär the moment he needed to seize his weapon.
“I needed to wait until I had the proper sights to shoot, so Evert wouldn’t be behind the bear and risk getting hit,” he said.
Only when he fired the shot did Pär realize the true extent of his injuries.
“It splatter a lot, there was blood everywhere,” said Pär, who was forced to pick up pieces of his face from the forest floor in the hope that he could put them back together once the bear was dead.
“It was a big piece and I didn’t want to waste it because I thought they might sew it back together at the hospital,” she said.
“I was relieved the bear couldn’t do any more damage, but it was terrible to see Dad,” said Evert, who rejected his father’s suggestion that his friends take them to the hospital and called emergency services.
This, Pär said, probably saved his life, as he was airlifted to the hospital and rushed into surgery that lasted 13 hours.
“I’m happy about that today, because I have a very wise son,” he said.
“I think Evert is a hero because I think he saved my life at that very moment, simply because he reacted as quickly as he did.”
Doctors were unable to save Pär’s cheek, but were able to graft skin from his thigh to reconstruct his face.
Pär is pictured during the hunting trip holding his rifle before the bear attack.
The brown bear is Sweden’s largest predator. It is estimated that there are about 3,000 brown bears in the forests of the Scandinavian country
Sweden has an estimated population of around 3,000 brown bears, one of the densest bear populations in Europe.
These majestic creatures inhabit the dense forests and mountainous regions of Sweden, mainly in the center and north of the country, where they roam vast territories in search of food and suitable habitats.
They are opportunistic omnivores and feed on a varied diet consisting of berries, nuts, salmon and occasionally small mammals.
Although they largely stay away from humans, there have been several cases of bear attacks in Sweden, mainly by females who fear for the safety of their cubs.
In Nordic countries like Sweden, bear hunting is a popular tradition deeply rooted in folklore and cultural practices, and bear population management is an important part of ecosystem conservation.
Bear meat, although not as popular as other game meats, is known for its rich gamey flavor and tender texture, although meat harvested from bears that have fed on old salmon or rotting carrion should be avoided.
As Pär himself said: ‘The meat is dark, coarse, sweet and requires many spices. This bear lived mainly on grasses and herbs; the meat is good to eat.
‘If a bear has eaten carrion, it is not possible to eat it. Then the meat smells like surströmming (fermented herring)!’