Yellowknife (Sep 24/04) - A young surveyor working at the abandoned Colomac Mine is being hailed as a hero after he was mauled while fending off a grizzly bear that attacked another man.

Tommy Lafferty, 24, was checking water levels with two other men at the mine site about 230 kilometres north of Yellowknife Wednesday when the large male grizzly charged out of a wooded area and attacked a federal government employee.

Tommy is the son of former North Slave MLA Leon Lafferty.

According to Leon Lafferty, his son started shouting at the bear after it knocked the other man down and was biting into his face. The bear then turned on Tommy Lafferty.

Leon Lafferty, who is a part-owner of the company Tommy Lafferty works for, Aboriginal Engineering, said his son is in good spirits despite sustaining puncture wounds to his face, head, arms and legs plus multiple fractures to his arm where the bear shook him.

"The first thing he said to me when I saw him was, 'you should have seen the size of that thing,'" said Lafferty, who flew to Edmonton yesterday where his son was medevaced early Thursday morning for emergency surgery.

The other victim, an Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) employee, was also flown to Edmonton to treat puncture wounds to his face and leg.

Both men received first aid at the mine site. They were flown to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife before being sent to Edmonton.

DIAND refused to disclose the name of their employee, although Lafferty said the man introduced himself as "Derek" at the hospital.

Lafferty first learned of his son's brush with death after receiving a phone call around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Lafferty said he was told that after the bear attacked the DIAND worker, Lafferty's younger co-worker with Aboriginal Engineering, Alex Washie, tried use his bear mace but in a moment of frantic confusion, couldn't get it to work.

"The young guy wasn't able to help so the bear went and got Tommy and Tommy tried to fight it off," his father said. "He played dead after he got bit so many times, and then the bear just took off and ran into the trees."

Lafferty said the DIAND employee approached him at the hospital Wednesday night and told him his son was a hero. "He said, 'your son save my life,'" said Lafferty.

"Tommy lost a lot of blood. His blood pressure was really low."

His son was in surgery all day yesterday, but Lafferty said he expects him to recover.

DIAND spokesperson Kate Hearn said there have been two other incidents involving grizzly bears at the mine site this summer, although none involved injuries.

All three men had received bear safety training, she said.

"We're doing an investigation of what exactly happened," said Hearn. "We've also sent in some counsellors and two elders, if people feel they need support to deal with the incident."

About 40 people are working at the mine site. DIAND is responsible for cleaning up Colomac, which was abandoned by its owners in 1997.

According to the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Renewable Resources, two wildlife officers flew to Colomac and killed the bear Thursday. They believe the bear was surprised while protecting its food source.

This was the second grizzly attack in the Northwest Territories this month. A middle-aged couple on a canoe trip down the South Nahanni River were attacked in their tent on Sept. 9. The man received only minor injuries to his hand, arm and back. Although grizzly attacks in the North are rare, there have been a number of other close calls in recent years. Last year, a Tuktoyaktuk woman was charged and bitten by a grizzly while out picking berries.

She managed to fend the bear off with a pail.

A family staying in a cabin near Rankin Inlet last fall also had a close encounter with a grizzly after it attempted to break-in while they were sleeping. The father of the family shot and killed the bear.

Lafferty said he believes restrictions against hunting bears have become too strict.

"The only thing they're good for is hurting people and damaging property," said Lafferty.

"By protecting them, there's more and more of them out there, and more people are getting hurt."