Bear Hug

Salmon fishermen are no longer throwing fish guts on shore for black bears around Port Renfrew, British Columbia after one climbed onto a dock, jumped into a man’s boat and mauled him.

He said he first thought the bear attack call received by his department and an ambulance crew was a “miscommunication.” “But sure enough when we got on scene there was a man who had some deep lacerations on his right shoulder and scratches all over his body,” said Tennant.

The man was conscious and in shock, but that his wounds did not appear to be life threatening, he said.

Gordon Hitchcock, a B.C. conservation officer, said the bear swam across Gordon River and climbed onto a dock before jumping into the man’s boat and mauling him.

Witnesses told him it was difficult to get the bear off the victim. ”Individuals that came to the aid of the victim used a combination of (fishing) gaffs, knives and a hammer to remove or pull the bear off the victim,” he said.

The man’s friends managed to kill the bear, said Tennant.

“Initial findings indicate that it was a very old bear in very poor health,” said Environment Ministry spokeswoman Kate Thompson.