Even if human beings are the most intelligent among all living beings, they are still
not immune to attack from wild animals. Human contact with bears has become more frequent
as their habitat is being endangered by frequent deforestation. The sloth bear is
one of the few bear species found in India, especially in the hilly areas of Southern
Odisha. Bears are highly intelligent and omnivorous animals with long claws coupled
with powerful shoulder. Here, we describe the tale of a poor tribal male's encounter
with a sloth bear resulting in critical injuries to face, scalp, skull bone, with
brain matter fungating-out of the skull. We immediately went for debridement of the,
bulged-out contused brain matter and opted for delayed repair of scalp defect with
antero-lateral thigh free-flap to save him from fatality along with an acceptable
cosmetic repair of the defect.
Key-words:
Bear mauling - eviscerating brain - polymicrobial infection
