A B.C. bike owner is recovering after a run-in with a grizzly and two cubs that ended with the bear getting punched within the face.
In accordance with conservation officer Matthew Corbett, a person was driving his bike alongside a forested path subsequent to Anderson Flats Provincial Park in northwest B.C. when he stunned a feminine grizzly and her two cubs in a clearing.
“The bear simply instantly charged him, knocked him down,” Corbett stated.
However the man put his bike between himself and the bear, which prevented him from being damage because the bear continued to make contact with the bike.
After which, he did one thing sudden: he punched the bear within the face.
“He advised me that he remembered listening to a narrative on CBC in some unspecified time in the future the place a person punched a bear within the nostril to get it off of him,” Corbett stated.
That story, which was revealed on-line in 2017, centred round a Vancouver Island man who, equally, punched a grizzly within the face whereas he was being attacked.
Corbett stated the person on this most up-to-date state of affairs “swung as onerous as he might,” which prompted the bear to run off into the bush. The person was in a position to journey his bike out of the park and catch a journey house from different park customers, Corbett stated.
Corbett, who has been a conservation officer for 13 years, stated that is the primary time he’s heard of somebody punching a grizzly within the face.
“This case is actually distinctive, I’d say,” he stated.
And whereas punching a bear labored for this significantly fortunate bike owner, the recommendation for grizzly encounters doesn’t embrace winding up and slugging the animals, which might develop to as giant as 500 kilograms, in line with the province.
Parks Canada stated one of the simplest ways to deal with a bear assault is to keep away from an encounter altogether by making noise close to streams, berry patches and different areas bears might frequent. It additionally says folks ought to journey in teams and use formally marked paths.
‘Be ready to come across a bear at anytime’ in Banff townsite, Parks Canada warns residents
The federal company additionally suggests carrying bear spray.
This text by Courtney Dickson was first revealed by CBC on 25 July 2024. Lead Picture: A person was attacked by a feminine grizzly in northern B.C., however he remembered a narrative he’d heard about one other individual in an identical state of affairs and fought again. (Alan Rogers/Casper Star-Tribune/The Related Press).
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