BARELY INTACT

Runner’s Arm Held Together by Coat After Horror Bear Attack

Billy Halloran needed two metal plates to pin his arm back together.

An ultra-marathon runner’s training run turned into a nightmare when a bear clamped its jaws around his arm and “fully” snapped it, leaving it held on by his coat. Billy Halloran, 32, said he was 2.5 miles into his route when he spotted two Asiatic black bears blocking the trail in Myoko, Japan. As he tried to slowly back away, one charged. “As I realized the bear was gonna get me, I used my right arm to shield my face,” Halloran told Radio New Zealand. The bear lunged, crushing his arm and throwing him to the ground. “I was screaming a lot, in fight or flight, thinking, ‘this is it.’” The bear eventually released him—only to tear into his calf. Then, inexplicably, it backed off. Halloran, bleeding and dazed, managed to call his wife, who drove him to safety. Doctors performed three surgeries to repair his shattered arm, broken in three places with a chunk of bone missing. “I haven’t been brave enough to look at it yet,” he said. “It’s hard to think back on that moment.” Halloran, now recovering with two metal plates in his arm, says he’s grateful to be alive—and stunned to have survived what he calls “the worst case scenario.”