'A defensive attack': Bear that injured hiker won't be destroyed

A bear that injured a hiker in the Crowsnest Pass acted defensively and won’t be trapped or destroyed, a provincial wildlife officer said Wednesday. On Friday, a Calgary man in his 40s who was hiking alone in the Window Mountain area northwest of Blairmore was attacked by a bear, suffering injuries to his head and a leg. He alerted authorities by sending a Garmin message and was slung by helicopter out of the remote area before being transported by air to Foothills Medical Centre.

The man noticed signs of a bear’s presence, either by noticing tracks, diggings or scat, said Mike Ewald, problem wildlife specialist with Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services. “He then heard rustling in nearby bushes and yelled,” said Ewald. “It spooked or seemed to trigger the bear, which ran toward him and closed the distance really quick.



” The attack was so short-lived, the man couldn’t determine the bear’s species, with the duration of the incident also indicating it wasn’t predatory, he said. “The gentleman wasn’t even knocked to the ground and shows it was a defensive attack — the bear felt threatened but didn’t feel the need to attack further,” said Ewald. “We just closed the area and won’t be doing any capture efforts.

If it was predatory, that changes the whole response.” The bear was on him so quickly the man wasn’t able to deploy his bear spray, which was held in a belt holster, said the wildlife officer. But he was able to use his walking sticks to counter the bear’s assault, he added.

“He did so many things right, but it shows things can still happen,” said Ewald. “It highlights the need to be prepared, trained and mentally prepared.” That includes having a bear spray canister in hand with the safety latch flipped off at the first sign of danger, he said.

And ideally, said Ewald, people shouldn’t be heading into bear country alone. Any DNA left by the bruin on the hiker’s clothing could be examined to determine if the bruin was a black or grizzly bear, he said. The Crowsnest Pass attack follows one in late August in which a Calgary bow hunter was injured after being attacked by a grizzly sow with three cubs in the Madden area just northwest of the city.

In that case, the hunter was able to deploy bear spray but couldn’t avoid non-life-threatening injuries. Ewald said the chance of bear encounters is high now as the animals seek to fatten up for winter, while hunters seek prey also sought by the bruins, such as elk or deer. “A lot of hunters are being quiet or making calls to ungulates, and that makes it difficult for bears to realize they’re human,” he said.

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