TV show re-creates 2005 mauling in Glacier

A bear mauling in Glacier National Park that grabbed nationwide attention 10 years ago is coming back to life on a new reality-based television show that will be broadcast this weekend.

ABC’s “In an Instant” premiered March 7 and intersperses re-enactments of dramatic, life-changing events with on-camera interviews of the people who lived through them. 

The second episode airs Saturday night featuring Johan and Jenna Otter, the California father and daughter who narrowly survived a grizzly bear attack in 2005 in Glacier National Park.

The pair were hiking along Grinnell Glacier Trail on the morning of Aug. 25, 2005, when they came around a blind turn in the trail and ran into a grizzly sow with her cubs. 

According to a park report, the attack lasted between one and five minutes, until Johan Otter fell about 65 feet down a rock chute and a drop-off, landing at the top of a cliff. His daughter fell about 30 feet, hiding in some alder below the rock chute.

They were plucked from the trail in a dramatic rescue involving the ALERT helicopter from Kalispell.

The Otters recently went to Minneapolis for interviews and to help the TV show’s writers establish a firmer grasp of the incident’s chronology. Former Glacier Park Ranger Gary Moses said he was contacted by Johan Otter to be a part of it.

Now retired from the park and working as a product ambassador for the Kalispell bear spray company Counter Assault, Moses said he and Johan Otter still catch up at least once a year.

“He was very severely injured, yet he retained his love of nature and respect for bears and was able to recover to the point of completing marathons, which was remarkable given the injuries he had,” Moses said.

The Lake McDonald subdistrict ranger at the time, Moses was on the scene shortly after a colleague had already arrived to administer basic life support. He said the complexity of the rescue was the greatest challenge.

“Johan, who was hurt the worst, may not have survived bouncing down the trail to where the helicopter could land,” he said during an interview on Tuesday. “The pilot, Ken Justus, who was the unsung hero in this event, managed to fly the helicopter in such a technical and complicated fashion to short-haul him out.”

Once out of the park and at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, the Otters were in the capable hands of Dr. Larry Iwerson, an orthopedic surgeon who for the past 27 years has worked on and studied the effects of grizzly attacks. Iwerson particularly has focused on the types of bacteria they can transfer to bear attack victims. 

Iwerson also will appear on the show this weekend.

“After I moved here in ’88, that summer I took care of a couple that was attacked on Avalanche Lake Trail,” Iwerson said Wednesday. “While I was taking care of them I did some research to find out what kind of bacteria bears carried and how people treated these wounds. There was no information, no literature. There was nothing out there.”

But over the past couple of decades, Iwerson has changed that. His medical team began setting up own protocols to treat attack victims, keeping tabs on the bacteria cultures found in the wounds and determining tests to quickly identify the right antibiotics to use. 

Iwerson worked with Moses for 24 years, sharing notes and teaming up with wildlife biologists studying grizzly populations to obtain culture samples directly from grizzlies’ mouths.

Moses provided Iwerson with reports on mauling incidents in the park dating back to 1903, and the doctor said he continues to keep up with park officials to add to his body of research and better coordinate the care given to victims who end up in the emergency room. So far, the approach seems to be working.

“We’ve been very successful; [the victims] haven’t had any major complications at all,” he said. “It’s surprising that very few are killed. We’ve had about 30-plus maulings since I’ve been here, about one per year. That’s more than anywhere else in the continental U.S., maybe Alaska too.”

Johan Otter, however, was one of the worst bear-attack victims Iwerson has seen, with his scalp ripped off along with other injuries.

“There’s not really an average bear attack, but this was a bad one. The bear attacked him repeatedly. Most of the time, the bear will attack once and once they realize you’re not a threat, they’ll let you go.”

By the time he was brought into the emergency room, several hours had passed since the encounter and Otter’s condition was destabilizing.

“He had lost a lot of blood because he had a bad laceration,” Iwerson recounted. “On top of that he had a cervical fracture too, which is bad. Fortunately, he was in excellent health and that helped him a lot.”

After initial treatment in Kalispell, Johan was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, while his daughter remained at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Iwerson said her injuries were far less severe, although she had sustained multiple cuts from the bear, which initially focused its attack on her before moving on her father.

Both Iwerson and Moses said they have kept in touch with Johan Otter and Moses noted that the still-avid hiker returns to Northwest Montana almost annually.

“It’s unusual, but we became friends through this incident, and Johan called me asking if I would be willing to participate [in the show],” Moses said. “Johan and Jenna not only survived the incident but flourished because of it. Afterward, he came back next year and completed the hike, and a couple years later he and Jenna both completed the hike.”

He added that Johan Otter has used the harrowing experience as a way to encourage others to overcome obstacles.

“Another component to this incredible story is that he made a positive out of this. He has lectured around the country, if not further, about how the experience doesn’t have to be limiting. You can overcome anything.”

Iwerson also flew to Minneapolis for the upcoming “In an Instant” episode, which he said he was pleased with.

“I thought it would be good for the people in the area to see,” he said. “It’s an interesting story, and one with a good outcome. It reflects nicely on our valley and our hospital, as well as our national park.”

The show is scheduled to run Saturday at 8 p.m. on KTMF.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com