Woman loses eye in bear attack, recoveres after 15-hours

Still Alive

In a bizarre incident, a woman’s eye, lost in a bear attack, was recovered after 15 hours.

Police said the incident occurred at Delwara in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The woman, Santosh Rajput and her son were attacked by a bear on their way to a temple on Saturday. The bear gouged out one of her eyes. She was admitted to hospital.

Her son Kishore, who dropped his mobile phone while fighting the bear, returned to the spot at 8 am on Sunday. He spotted his mother’s eye in a bush and took it to the hospital. The doctors found the eye to be “alive and intact.” Since veins connecting the eye with the nervous system were ruptured, it could not be transplanted into the woman, doctors said.

The family then decided to donate the eye to an eye bank. It was the first time that a living person donated her eye.

The doctors said cold climate and rain at night, which lowered the temperatures, helped to preserve the eye in the wilds. Ophthalmologist Sudhir Singh, who is treating the woman, said it a first for him to see an eye remaining intact for “such a long period after being separated from the body, in a natural environment.”"

“There was rain throughout the night. It helped the eye to retain its moisture and kept the temperature down. Besides, pollution level in Mount Abu is low. That could be the reason for the eye remaining alive and kicking,” he said.