Alaskan pastor recovering after attack by grizzly

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Longtime Alaska pastor Johnny McCoy is recovering at a Fairbanks hospital after being mauled by a grizzly bear Sept. 4.

McCoy, 52, pastor of First Baptist Church, North Pole, underwent more than six hours of surgery Sept. 4 for multiple injuries he sustained after he and a hunting partner, church deacon Cary Corle, happened upon a female grizzly bear protective of her two cubs.

The bear knocked over Corle and then attacked McCoy.

McCoy’s injuries — from numerous bites to his head, both arms and hands — included a nearly severed right ear, a left eye dislodged from its socket, a rip to his forehead open enough to show his skull, two compound fractures of his right arm and a broken left wrist.