A 40-year-old hiker endured six days and nights alone in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest by killing and eating bees.
Washington state rescue workers found Matthew Matheny conscious but badly dehydrated in Ant Canyon after he went missing in the Mount St. Helens area almost a week ago.
His parents Carney and Linda Matheny said their son, a nurse and former boy scout, survived solely on bees and berries.
“The bees were after him the whole time… so he killed them and ate them,” said Linda Matheny at a press conference on Wednesday.
“He is interested in nutrition and health. We think that may have saved him. He never found water, but the berries must have had enough fluid to keep him going.
“He’s pretty overwhelmed at the rescue,” she added. “He had reached a point where he had seen no one since last Thursday, and he really started thinking this could be it.”
According to KPTV, Mr Matheny set out on a hike last Thursday without supplies, wearing shorts and flip-flops. After getting lost somewhere off the mountain trail, he found shelter 10 feet down a ravine.
His Subaru Outback vehicle was found at the head of the trail on Saturday, sparking a huge search operation in the area involving a couple of hundred volunteers.
Finally, shortly before 10am on Wednesday morning, he was discovered in the ravine around four hours walking distance from the spot he had parked his car.
Despite being dehydrated and scratched, Mr Matheny was still in “good condition”.
Shaun Ford, head of the North Country emergency medical services team, said rescuers were able to start him on IV fluids before he was flown to hospital in a helicopter.
“It’s very incredible that he survived,” said Ford. “The fact that he was in such good condition made it a lot easier to do the work at hand.”
Mr Matheny, from Ohio, is recovering from his ordeal in PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Centre in Vancouver.
