Hiker stranded in wilderness reportedly ate dog

[Hum]

MONTREAL ? Outdoorsman Marco Lavoie, rescued Wednesday after three months in the deep woods near James Bay, made the heartbreaking decision to kill and eat his beloved German shepherd to stay alive. :/

A source close to the amazing story told QMI Agency that Lavoie, 44, sacrificed his dog when he became stranded at the Nottaway River, roughly 800 km northwest of Montreal.

A bear had eaten Lavoie's food and destroyed his boat in mid-July, leaving him alone with the dog.

A few days after the bear attack, the person who spoke to QMI on condition of anonymity said Lavoie used a rock to kill his dog before eating the pet.

By the time provincial police airlifted him out three months later, Lavoie was barely able to speak or eat. He suffered hypothermia and dehydration and had lost about 90 pounds.

Survival expert Andre Francois Bourbeau said Lavoie did what he could to live.

"He survived because he made ?good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them," said Bourbeau, author of a survival guide.

Bourbeau has researched hundreds of similar stories, some of which include cannibalism.

"You have to be desperate, but there's no shame in (eating the dog)," said Bourbeau. "He had to use reason."

The survival expert says that after 30 days in the wilderness with no food, Lavoie's body would have gone into shock from starvation.

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[The Evil Overlord]

Man's Best Friend's sacrifice saved man's life?

[Tomoko]

We eat all sorts of cute animals just because they taste good. If you are literally starving there is certainly nothing wrong with eating a dog to stay alive.

 

Being that it was his pet I'm sure it was a very painful thing for him to do though. 

[DocM]

Tough choice, but he'd have had to hunt & fish for 2 for them both to survive. Not many people know how to do that, and not many hikers / campers realize taking a collapsible fishing rod, trapping basics and a small firearm (take-down .22 like an AR-7 etc.) into the deep woods is a smart thing to do. A .22 can produce a lot of squirrel, rabbit and other small game while not having to carry a lot of weight in ammo.

[Lingwo]

If true, it is digusting. There are plenty of ways survive in the wild.

I'd rather die personally.

[Growled Member]

I can understand his decision. I probably would have made the same one. However, I do know how to fish and hunt, with a spear if need be. Like DocM, I would never go into the woods without a gun. You never know when it might be useful.

[McKay]

If true, it is digusting. There are plenty of ways survive in the wild.

I'd rather die personally.

 

You never know what you're capable of until you're put into a situation like that.

[DocM]

I can understand his decision. I probably would have made the same one. However, I do know how to fish and hunt, with a spear if need be. Like DocM, I would never go into the woods without a gun. You never know when it might be useful.

To be specific, when camping I usually go into the deep woods with a .22 rifle and a sidearm - usually a Magnum Research .500 S&W Magnum or Ruger .44 Magnum. The .22 is for food and the sidearm for bear, hogs, big cats or 2 legged predators.

[Hum]

I'd probably starve to death -- I couldn't kill a dog.

[McKay]

I'd probably starve to death -- I couldn't kill a dog.

 

I can't remember the name of the documentary, or the guy in question, but it was a guy who was stranded in the Wilderness for weeks, usual story, did appalling things to survive. 

 

He says people kept coming up to him saying "I could never have done the things you did, I'd have died out there".  He replied that he thought the exact same things about himself, and that you never know what you're capable of, until you're in the situation.

[DocM]

That goes for a lot of life & death situations, be it in the deep woods or on the street.