A TREKKER who was stranded in a remote region of Canada killed and ate his beloved German Shepherd just days after the dog had saved him from a bear.

Trekker Marco Lavoie eats his beloved pet dog to survive days after it saved him from bear attack

• 10 days ago November 03, 2013 7:01AM -- News.com

A man was forced to eat his beloved german shepherd after being trapped in the Canadian wilderness. Source: AFP

 

A TREKKER who was stranded in a remote region of Canada killed and ate his beloved German Shepherd just days after the dog had saved him from a bear. 

Marc Lavoie’s three-month climbing trip in the Canadian outback turned to disaster when a bear attacked his camp on the banks of the Nottaway River, around 800km northwest of Montreal.

Mr Lavoie escaped with his life when his German shepherd chased it away - but not before the bear had destroyed his canoe and food supply.

Risking starvation Mr Lavoie made the heart-breaking decision to kill the dog just a few days later. He hit the animal with a rock and ate its meat.

Mr Lavoie was rescued this week after three months in the deep wilderness.

By the time he was airlifted out the outdoorsman was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration and had lost about 40 kilograms, the Toronto Sun reported. 

Survival experts said the decision to kill the dog may have saved his life.

"He survived because he made good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them," Andre Francois Bourbeau, a survival expert, told the paper.

Even so, locals said they had warned the outdoorsman against trekking the river alone.

Andre Diamond, a Waswanipi Cree who lives on an island at the mouth of the river, said: “He said it didn't scare him, but it's not a river to travel alone. Other adventurers have gone there over 20, 30 years and never came back.”

The Nottaway River is a notoriously dangerous place to travel with temperatures dropping below freezing, and potentially deadly currents.

Mr Lavoie is in hospital in a serious condition.