Simple Arms Could have Stopped Horrific Bear Attack in BC

 

 Image by Troy Nemitz, with permission.

At Dawson Creek, British Columbia, on October 3, 2022, a group of four were hiking on a ski trail at Bear Mountain Ski Club. Their intent was to obtain pictures of the fall colors. The group consisted of three women; Analyn Bartolome, friends Leosette Canoy, and Wennali Canoy, and Analyn's teenage son, Kelly. It was getting late when the group started heading back.  The sun was close to the horizon and the shadows were long when the bear attack started.

From various accounts, including a gofundme, Kelly heard footsteps behind them. He turned to look, but saw nothing. He dropped back a little as they continued back toward the trailhead. He heard more footsteps, turned and saw a black bear.  He alerted the group, and turned back to see the bear charging at them. As the bear approached, he punched it. It knocked him aside, bruising his ribs. The bear was focused on his mother, Analyn, who was attempting to get away. As the bear attacked Analyn, her friend Leosette intervened. The bear attacked Leosette. While the bear was attacking Leosette, Kelly hit the bear with a large stick, momentarily stunning it.  The bear continued to attack Leosette.

 

Scene of black bear predatory attack in BC (from RCMP)

Cell phone coverage was poor to non-existent where the attack occurred. Kelly and Wennali decided to run for help. They arrived at the cabin by the trailhead and called for help. The RCMP received a report of the attack at about 6:50 p.m. When the RCMP arrived, it was very dark. They started to search for the victims, using ATVs to search Wolverine Trail. Staff Sergeant Damon Werrell was one of the responding officers.  On the trail, officers found a large pool of blood.  When the officers were studying the blood, they heard a low whisper: "help bear".  The officers directed their flashlights on a horrific sight. From cjdctv.com:

“I turned the Gator around so I was facing the bear in order to use the lights to illuminate the area a little bit. And I used the gator to try and push the bear away to scare it off. I tried two or three times and by this time, the victims now were screaming for help.”

The bear had been sitting on the 2 women for over an hour. Werrell said it was playing with the two badly injured women like an animal that plays with its food. The bear was swatting and gnawing at them.

One of the buttocks on one of the women was almost gone. The bear had eaten it and her forearm was badly bitten.

The officers decided the bear had to be shot.  After the bear was shot, the officers used one of the ATVs to transport the women to an ambulance. Both women have survived, but faced long and expensive recoveries with multiple surgeries.

Analysis:

If any of the women or Kelly had possessed a weapon, most of the injuries would likely have been prevented. Use of any firearm would probably have either killed the bear or caused the bear to retreat after a warning shot or wounding the beast. Little skill was necessary as the shots could have been delivered at arms length. Black bears seldom continue to attack after shots have been fired. Given Canada's highly restrictive firearms laws, a spear or a large knife would probably have been sufficient to kill the bear or drive it away.  Even small pocket knives have been successfully used to drive off black bears, or even grizzly bears.

Bear spray is less effective on black bears than on grizzly bears, especially black bears involved in predatory attacks. From craigmedred.news 2017, writing of the Pogo Mine fatal attack:

There has been some past research indicating that black bears can rather quickly recover from being sprayed.

“I don’t know why,” Stephen Herrero, the dean of bear research said Thursday evening, “but it showed up in the data.”

As in this case, Herrero said, the spray initially drove bears off, but they came back. This is, however, the first time a fatality has been associated with the failure of bear spray.

There have been nine human fatalities were bear spray was used against bears, but only one human fatality where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear.  The latest two fatalities involving bear spray were in Banff National park in Canada.

Kelly had the courage and the will to defend his mother and her friends. He did not have the means.

©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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