Man attacked by a large unknown animal with dark, coarse hair

JACKSBORO, Tenn. (WATE) – An east Tennessee man said he was attacked by a wild animal Friday, and investigators immediately got to work, warning the public and searching for a possible bear in the White Bridge area of Campbell County.

But now, officials with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) said there is zero evidence at the scene. In fact, there might not even be a scene.

Michael Savage, 27, said he was attacked around 4 a.m. Friday morning by an animal with dark, coarse hair.

After the attack, the TWRA said they could not confirm the attack was caused by a bear, but they did issue a bear warning and put out a trap.

“I got grabbed, and I got picked up off my feet, and I rolled around with what appeared, something appeared to be very big and black,” Savage told WATE. “It grabbed me and then I had a knife on me and I did stick it a few times. That’s when it scratched me on my stomach.”

Savage said he ended up with 132 stitches.

However, after investigating, Matt Cameron with the TWRA said they are “fairly certain” Savage was not attacked by a bear or any other wild animal.

Cameron said Savage’s injuries show he was not attacked by an animal and there isn’t any evidence at the scene where Savage said he fought with the animal for 20 minutes.

“If he were able to stab it, there should be blood, there should be hair, there should be a blood trail,” said Cameron. “There are no defensive wounds on him. There’s no bite marks; they’re all lacerations. People that have been attacked by a bear will have bite marks on them, on their arms, their hands, on their back, and he just doesn’t have that.”

Cameron would not confirm if the injuries were self-inflected. He said TWRA will continue to investigate, but couldn’t say if there might be charges if Savage’s story isn’t true.

“To make up a story to this magnitude would be a considerable crime, considering the amount of money and manpower that that required that day and continues to require up to this point,” said Cameron.

Source: http://wkrn.com/2015/09/07/man-says-he-was-attacked-by-animal-wildlife-officials-cant-confirm/