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Man Eats Dog Who Saved Him From Bear Attack

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German shepherd dog in the grass.
German shepherd dog in the grass. (Image credit: Eduard Kyslynskyy | Shutterstock)

A Canadian man survived a bear attack and months in the wilderness thanks to his faithful companion, a dog. But at the end of the ordeal, the dog didn't make it out alive.

In July, a 44-year-old man, Marco Lavoie, set off on a two-month canoeing trip in Northwestern Quebec along the Nottaway River. But a bear attacked his campsite, eating all his food and destroying the canoe he needed to travel back home. His beloved German shepherd chased off the bear before the man could be harmed.

Without any food, Lavoie faced certain starvation. So a few days later, he hit his dog with a rock and ate him. When he was late returning from his trip in October, his family alerted police. When Lavoie was finally rescued late last month, he couldn't speak or eat, had lost about 90 pounds, and was dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia.

"He survived because he made good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them," Andre Francois Bourbeau, author of a survival guide, told the Toronto Sun.

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Tia Ghose
Tia Ghose
Editor-in-Chief (Premium)

Tia is the editor-in-chief (premium) and was formerly managing editor and senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com, Science News and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.