the "S", "B" and the "Q" words

[HERBIE1]

Not my call, but close: really stupid male teen climbed the wall of the Bear's cage at the Prospect Park (Brooklyn, NY) Zoo, and was killed and eaten by the bruins. NYPD killed all 3 of the bears in a volly of gunfire, and found parts of the boy in 2 of them. Bears cut open by Medical Examiner, EMS basically was on a standby on the scene.

EMS belief at the time was the cops shot the bear, so they would have tales to tell grand kids: "When I was a cop, I shot a bear in Brooklyn, back in the late 1980s".

This got me thinking. We had a "Tour Commander" at the Communications Bureau, and whenever he was on, we'd have at least 2 Multiple Casualty Incidents happen during his 8 hours of tour, every tour. His nickname was "Captain Blackcloud" (I even gave him a plastic name tag with that name on it, which he sometimes would actually wear), and I think he was the "boss" the night of the bear attack!

Not bad, Richard. A bear attack certainly qualifies as unusual- at least for us city folks.

Our victim was actually a trainer who screwed up. She left one of the gates to the outdoor enclosure open while she cleaned up. Quite intense. Apparently she was quite familiar with the animals and one of them appeared and slowly approached her as she was scrubbing the ground. Another lion came out, and the first lioness either became protective of the trainer- or wanted to keep her for a meal- and grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground and towards her. All her injuries were from the lion's claws, not teeth. Personally, I think the lioness was protecting the trainer from the 2nd lion because if she was serious about killing this woman, it would have been over in an instant. Other trainers chased the lions away with fire extinguishers and hoses, but nobody was able to get the doors closed to secure the enclosure. The woman was badly gouged- back, buttocks, breasts, bleeding horribly, but was still able to climb out of the enclosure via a ladder with assistance. One of her first questions- "Are the lions OK?"

As we were trying to figure out how to rescue this woman, the police had sharpshooters set up all around the enclosure and the zoo keepers were screaming- "Don't hurt the lions!" A SGT came up to the head zoo person and calmly said- "I am an animal lover, but we have an injured woman down there who needs help. If one of those lions pokes their head out of the door, the lion loses. Back off, lady." I wish I had a camera to capture the look on the zoo keeper's face.

I'll never forget my telemetry report and the incredulous voices on the other end of the radio. "Yes, we have a lion attack." We transported to a trauma center I worked at for years, and the attending trauma doc was absolutely floored when we arrived. Despite the massive blood loss, the patient survived, had extensive rehab and skin grafts and returned a couple months later to thank us. She said her new assignment at the zoo was working at the butterfly exhibit. LOL

Thankfully she remembered very little of what happened that day.

[Richard B the EMT]

We better start a string on unusual calls. I'll do the honors.