A Hispanic woman managed to survive a bear attack by playing dead during the incident, which occurred close to a military base in Alaska.
According to the ABC, 25-year-old Jessica Gamboa enjoyed running with her husband near the Elmendorf-Richardson joint military base. On a part of the road, Gamboa got separated form her husband and shortly after met with a bear cub.
The young woman knew that the mother would be close, but before she could realize it, the bear started moving towards her. The mother bear knocked her down and dragged it to the other side of the road. The violent attack happened many times during many distressing minutes; however, during this entire time, Gamboa did not scream or fight, but rather stayed in a fetal position on the ground. The woman is convinced that this saved her life.
Jessica Gamboa said in an interview with Sgt. Collin Gillikin, from a bed in the military hospital where she received medical attention, that she grew up hearing that during a bear attack the best thing you can do is play dead until the animal leaves.
This knowledge very well could have saved her life. After tossing her around violently, the bear abandoned her in a grassy ditch, seriously injured, but alive.
"I can't believe this really happened. It still feels surreal; the simple fact of being alive feels unreal," said the woman, mother of an 11-year-old boy, and military wife who was born in Sacramento, California, reported the CBS.
Authorities from the military base said that the bear was only worried about her cubs and that Jessica did what she had to to survive, since her reaction told the bear that she was not a threat.