Just several months after moving to Kenai, Alaska, Ariean Colton, a mother of three, survived a shocking animal attack. Before heading to work as a medical assistant on the morning of August 26, 2025, Colton woke up early, started her Garmin Watch, and headed outside to go on a jog. Then her memory went black.
“I had significant brain damage, so I don’t remember anything, but I can tell you the facts,” Colton told MeatEater. “I started my workout at 5:20 a.m. That’s the same time my neighbor’s camera picked up motion—most likely the bear. At 5:24 a.m. I pushed start on the ‘run’ setting on my watch. At 5:24 a.m., you can also hear two loud screams on my neighbor’s camera. I was likely walking to the end of my driveway when it happened.”
Colton was the victim of a rare, predatory brown bear attack in a residential area within a town’s city limits—and it nearly killed her. Alaska Wildlife Trooper David Lorring told KTUU that after attacking Colton, the bear dragged her 100 yards down the road and onto a neighbor’s property. That neighbor “heard the barking, wolfing sound of a bear” but “didn’t think much of it.”
Still, the neighbor went outside to look around once it got light out, found Colton in his front yard at 6:28 a.m., and called 911. She was brutally wounded. “The biggest damage I got was on my face,” Colton said. “I don’t know if it was like a hit, and then I went to the ground and was knocked out, or if it was a bite and drag…I don’t know what happened. Did I try and fight it off? Or was I just knocked out the whole time?”
Regardless, the bear had already left the scene. Colton was airlifted to a hospital in Anchorage, where she was soon put into ICU with significant injuries: a cut on her face that extended from her nose under her left eye to her hairline, a cut down the back of her head, another one on her right arm, road rash all along her body, and internal damage, too. She broke four T-bones in her back, her jaw, several ribs, her left scapula, and her right thumb. She lost the use of her left eye. And after her first surgery, things were looking bleak.
“I had a huge brain contusion that had grown quite a bit,” she said. “[The doctors] were worried I wouldn’t wake up.”
Fortunately, the swelling responded to medication, and Colton started to react after five days. She faced a long road to recovery, involving additional surgeries. Her hospital stay lasted a month. “I don’t remember much from that time, except for a little bit of rehab in the last week,” she said. “For a while, my husband had to tell me every morning where I was and why I was there… My kids would come visit on the weekends. My husband says that every time they came, I would say I wanted to go home with them. I just wanted to be with my family and go back to how things were.”
Even after leaving the hospital, Colton faced a harrowing recovery. Her lack of vision in one eye made it difficult to perform simple tasks like standing up. She also had to spend a lot of time recuperating and couldn’t do the physical activities she loved, like running. And, of course, there was the emotional and mental trauma and the difficulty of processing it without being able to remember the attack itself.
“I started therapy, and it has helped a ton,” she said. “It’s hard because your body reacts, even though your mind doesn’t remember. It’s constant. Every time I walk out the door, I have to know what’s out there. I am nervous for spring to come, because it’s been good right now with the bears hibernating.”
Colton, her husband Tyler, and her kids are still living in the house near where the attack took place. Officials conducted an immediate search in the area of the attack, even using drones, but did not locate the bear responsible. In the past, Colton’s family moved around a lot because of career opportunities for her husband; Colton had only been living in Alaska since June before the attack took place. She says she’s not sure if she wants to move again or settle in Kenai, which the family has otherwise liked.
“I want to overcome this fear, because I love being outdoors, and I want to be able to go outside and go on hikes again,” she said. Her family has made some changes following the attack. Colton and Tyler have begun carrying self-defense firearms and plan to equip their kids with bear spray when the snow melts. Additionally, the family got a new pet.
“We got an elk hound. They’re known for hunting large game. We let it go out in the yard first and check out the area. Then I can go and let my kids play in the backyard, knowing there’s something there to keep them safe.”
Ultimately, Colton hopes her story of survival will help others going through hard times. “Going through trauma is a lot. Sometimes people don’t have the courage to just get up and move on and be able to process it,” she said. “I want people to know there is hope and positivity after a trauma. The bear dragged me a hundred yards. So, my family’s theme has been the one-hundred-and-first yard for how you react and what you do after all the hard things you go through.”
Images via Ariean Colton.
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