Alaska Coast Guard rescues man who fended off grizzly bear for days

In this 2019 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) in Grand Teton National Park, Wyo. Grizzly bears are slowly expanding in the northern Rocky Mountains but scientists say they need continued protections and have concluded no other areas of the country would be suitable for the fearsome animals. The Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, released its first assessment in almost a decade on the status of grizzly bears in the contiguous U.S. (Joe Lieb/USFWS via AP)

Washington (AFP): A man who fended off attacks from a wild grizzly bear for a week straight in the Alaskan wilderness is recovering from his injuries after he was found stranded at an encampment, the US Coast Guard said.

An aircrew first spotted an "SOS" sign on top of a shack during a routine helicopter flight over the west Alaskan coast last Friday, according to a Coast Guard statement. It wasn't until the aircraft flew back to inspect the message that it noticed a man waving two hands in the air.