Hikers recount bear attack
‘She grabbed my arm with her mouth and flung me through the air’: Hikers recount bear attack
Thinkstock/Getty A Grizzly bear similar to this one attacked two hikers near Fernie, B.C.
Two
men are recovering after an attack by a grizzly bear Wednesday morning
while hiking on Fernie’s Mt. Proctor in British Columbia.
“We are so thankful we’re sitting here, the two of us, making these statements,” Keith Farkas told the Fernie Free Press. “Rather than our wives writing our obituaries.”
Conservation officers have yet to locate the bear and have closed the nearby Fairy Creek recreation trail until further notice.
The two hikers, Farkas and Brian Braconnier, both Fernie residents in their 30s, were walking near the ridge at about 9 a.m. when the bear — believed to be a female with a cub – charged at one of the men, knocking him to the ground.
The hiker was mauled in the arms and chest before he was able to fend the bear off using bear spray.
“She hit me four times in total,” Braconnier told the Free Press. “On the third time, she grabbed my arm with her mouth and flung me through the air. When I landed, I grabbed my pepper spray. When she came at me again, she was at an arms distance as I used the bear spray on her. It deterred her but she still ran me over. In two lunges she was back up the hill towards Keith. I could hear him screaming but I couldn’t see a thing.”
The grizzly then lunged at the second man, wounding his arms and legs, before he fired a shotgun at the animal at close range and it ran off with its young.
Farkas continued to the Free Press, “I was fumbling with the straps on my backpack trying to get the gun off. I was fumbling with the shells trying to load my gun. I managed to load a shell. I saw her paws. I took one shot. She stood up and seemed to writhe in pain like the shot had connected with her. Like lightening, she was around a corner and coming at me airborne from above. She clawed me and pushed me back. I landed on my back in the most terrifying position with my head downhill and my feet uphill. I was screaming. Her face was one foot away from my boot and she turned around and left.”
“The two men were traumatized,” said B.C. Conservation officer Sgt. Joe Caravetta. “The bear was doing a natural thing, it was defending its cub,” he said.
“The men did nothing wrong either, they were just out hiking … at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The men provided emergency first aid to each other and then had to hike back down the ridge for help.
They made their way to Elk Valley Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
One man was released, the other underwent surgery in a hospital in Lethbridge and has also been released.
Wildlife officials are still on the hunt for the bear.
Caravetta said searchers located a small blood trail, but were uncertain how badly wounded the animal may be.
If they find its body they plan to take the cub to a wildlife rehabilitation centre.
If it is found suffering, it will be put down and the cub removed.
But Caravetta said the grizzly could be five to 10 kilometres out of range by now.
Officials are asking the public to stay away from the site until further notice while the search continues.
“It didn’t happen along the trail, but it’s not far away and we just don’t want people to be up there,” Caravetta said.
It is the sole grizzly mauling incident in the region so far this year.
“We are so thankful we’re sitting here, the two of us, making these statements,” Keith Farkas told the Fernie Free Press. “Rather than our wives writing our obituaries.”
Conservation officers have yet to locate the bear and have closed the nearby Fairy Creek recreation trail until further notice.
The two hikers, Farkas and Brian Braconnier, both Fernie residents in their 30s, were walking near the ridge at about 9 a.m. when the bear — believed to be a female with a cub – charged at one of the men, knocking him to the ground.
The hiker was mauled in the arms and chest before he was able to fend the bear off using bear spray.
“She hit me four times in total,” Braconnier told the Free Press. “On the third time, she grabbed my arm with her mouth and flung me through the air. When I landed, I grabbed my pepper spray. When she came at me again, she was at an arms distance as I used the bear spray on her. It deterred her but she still ran me over. In two lunges she was back up the hill towards Keith. I could hear him screaming but I couldn’t see a thing.”
The grizzly then lunged at the second man, wounding his arms and legs, before he fired a shotgun at the animal at close range and it ran off with its young.
Farkas continued to the Free Press, “I was fumbling with the straps on my backpack trying to get the gun off. I was fumbling with the shells trying to load my gun. I managed to load a shell. I saw her paws. I took one shot. She stood up and seemed to writhe in pain like the shot had connected with her. Like lightening, she was around a corner and coming at me airborne from above. She clawed me and pushed me back. I landed on my back in the most terrifying position with my head downhill and my feet uphill. I was screaming. Her face was one foot away from my boot and she turned around and left.”
“The two men were traumatized,” said B.C. Conservation officer Sgt. Joe Caravetta. “The bear was doing a natural thing, it was defending its cub,” he said.
“The men did nothing wrong either, they were just out hiking … at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The men provided emergency first aid to each other and then had to hike back down the ridge for help.
They made their way to Elk Valley Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
One man was released, the other underwent surgery in a hospital in Lethbridge and has also been released.
Wildlife officials are still on the hunt for the bear.
Caravetta said searchers located a small blood trail, but were uncertain how badly wounded the animal may be.
If they find its body they plan to take the cub to a wildlife rehabilitation centre.
If it is found suffering, it will be put down and the cub removed.
But Caravetta said the grizzly could be five to 10 kilometres out of range by now.
Officials are asking the public to stay away from the site until further notice while the search continues.
“It didn’t happen along the trail, but it’s not far away and we just don’t want people to be up there,” Caravetta said.
It is the sole grizzly mauling incident in the region so far this year.
Labels: Animal Stories, Canada, Conflict, Nature
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