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A lost hiker who was days from death had to eat his beloved pet dog to survive in the wilderness.

Marco Lavoie, 44, was trapped with no food in Canada after a bear destroyed his supplies.

The Quebec climber was severely ill when he was airlifted to safety last week following a planned three month solo hike.

Starving after a bear ransacked his campsite and destroyed his canoe, he was forced to kill and eat his German shepherd who had bravely chased away the animal from camp.

Rescued from the Nottaway River wilderness near Montreal, Mr Lavoie had lost half his body weight, had hypothermia and was unable to speak.

His family reported him missing after he failed to return from a trek to Lake Matagame.

Survival experts say eating his dog kept him alive.

Bushcraft expert Andre Francois Bourbeau said: "He survived because he made good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them. You have to be desperate, but there's no shame in eating the dog. He had to use reason."

Survival instructor Caleb Musgrave said: "Up there, in the Canadian shield, there's little plant life to live off, so he would have been slowly, painfully dying when they found him.

"It's an amazing feat that he was able to keep himself alive this long with almost no equipment."