Laurel-Rose von Hoffmann-Curzi was woken up early on October 30 by a sequence of thumping sounds downstairs in her household’s Tahoe Vista cabin.
At first she thought her son was being noisy, however as she got here down the steps she realized that there was a big bear rummaging in her freezer and throwing meals on the bottom.
It was nonetheless darkish, however the bear was illuminated by the sunshine from the freezer.
“In regards to the time I acknowledged that he was a bear, he acknowledged, I assume, that I used to be an individual and got here charging at me,” the 66-year-old retired physician informed CNN.
Von Hoffmann-Curzi says she did not actually see the bear cost as a result of all of it occurred so quick.
“I keep in mind seeing his huge paw proper on my face and principally nothing else,” she stated. “And I began feeling my physique being ripped aside.”
She stated she was “screaming and screaming and screaming” because the bear attacked.
The bear got here up the steps at her a second time and von Hoffmann-Curzi says she threw a quilt and a gown that landed on its head and spooked the animal.
The bear got here in the direction of her a 3rd time however ran out of the home when von Hoffman-Curzi’s husband and son got here out of their rooms.
Her husband helped are likely to her wounds whereas her son referred to as 911. She says assist arrived in lower than 10 minutes and he or she was rushed to the hospital.
Von Hoffman-Curzi says her face harm the worst and he or she was bleeding loads. However she additionally had scratches and different wounds on her neck, again, arm and different elements of her physique, together with a chunk close to her left breast.
There was additionally a deep puncture wound on her stomach that she feared had ruptured her spleen, which she says would have been disastrous as a result of she goes by chemotherapy for lymphoma.
Von Hoffman-Curzi was transferred to the UC Davis Medical Heart in Sacramento for extra remedy. The surgeon there “did a spectacular job” stitching up her intensive facial accidents, she stated.
Medical doctors gave von Hoffmann-Curzi antibiotics in hopes of stopping infections and abscesses, as a result of she’s immunocompromised and since bears carry micro organism.
Von Hoffman-Curzi hopes she will not want further surgical procedures.
She lives in Orinda, California, within the Bay Space, and says she and her husband go to the cabin pretty recurrently, as a result of it is one of many few locations she will be able to go outdoors of her dwelling.
Her chemotherapy has made her very vulnerable to Covid-19, so it hasn’t been secure for her to be out and about in the course of the pandemic despite the fact that she’s vaccinated.
“The one causes are medical doctors appointments and chemotherapy,” she stated. “That is my social life goes to chemotherapy.”
She says they will not return till this bear is caught.
“It will be harmful for us as a result of the bear is aware of the cabin, is aware of there’s meals there, is aware of find out how to get in [and] is unafraid of individuals,” she stated.
Capt. Patrick Foy with the California Division of Fish and Wildlife says authorities have arrange a entice on the cabin to attempt to catch the bear. Additionally they took DNA samples from Von Hoffman-Curzi’s wounds and from contained in the cabin.
The bear should be euthanized in the event that they catch it, they usually’ll use the DNA data to ensure they’ve the correct one, Foy says. Another bears they seize will likely be launched in a secure location.
Foy says that lots of the bears round Tahoe, which he described as an urban-rural interface, have change into accustomed to people.
“When you will have bears which might be breaking into properties, these are bears which might be pretty habituated to those city areas, and that is the way in which they make a dwelling actually is by by pursuing human sources of meals,” he stated. “I do not imply people as a supply of meals, simply human sources of meals.”
He says this was the second bear assault on a human this yr.
Von Hoffmann-Curzi says they’d simply gotten to the cabin on Friday evening and hadn’t cooked or eaten any meals, or generated any trash.
She thinks the bear could have smelled some avocados that they introduced with them.
They did not lock their deadbolt that evening, von Hoffman-Curzi says, and the bear was in a position to open the door with its paws.
“These bears are super-smart,” she stated.
