Veteran has jaw torn off by grizzly bear in Montana

A Navy veteran had his jaw ripped off by a grizzly bear while trying to take on the 10-foot animal with his bare hands after being ambushed in Montana, his family said.

Rudy Noorlander, 61, remains in a critical but stable condition in a hospital after he was attacked by the huge bear inside the Custer Gallatin National Forest, just outside Big Sky, last Friday.

“The grizzly left a large scratch down his right chest, bit his arms, legs,” his daughter, KateLynn Noorlander, wrote on a GoFundMe page for “the bravest and strongest man I know.”

“And to top it all off, [the bear] gave him as what Rudy describes as the most disgusting French kiss of his life before biting down and tearing off his lower jaw.”

The terrifying encounter unfolded as Noorlander, who runs an ATV rental company, was helping some of his clients track down a deer they had recently shot.

He had first laid eyes on a smaller bear and immediately took out his rifle to scare it off, but was quickly ambushed by the 10-foot grizzly, his daughter said.

“Rudy aimed his gun at the bear but his firearm misfired, making his best choice of defense his fists as he did not have any time to get his bear spray from his backpack,” the daughter said.

“As the bear lunged, the only thing Rudy could do was punch the bear in hopes of slowing it down. Unfortunately it did not, and after the first punch the grizzly was on top of Rudy.”

The hunters he was with managed to scare off the bears and quickly called for a helicopter rescue.

“Since the threat of bears still loomed, the first helicopter that responded needed to wait for another helicopter to come to potentially scare away any remaining bears,” KateLynn said, adding that her father was lying “fully conscious” on the ground for two hours.

“An amazing feat of strength as he did not pass out from fear, pain or the blood loss,” she added.

After initially undergoing surgery at the Bozeman Deaconess hospital in Montana, Noorlander was flown to the University of Utah Hospital for further treatment.

The US Forest Service quickly closed off portions of the park to track down the grizzly.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the animal was found.