Two women suffered scratches and bites when they found themselves in a confrontation with a startled black bear on Tuesday while out walking their dogs along a remote logging road northwest of the city.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service Sgt. Steve Ackles described the incident as a "chance encounter" that began when one of the dogs surprised the bear as it was foraging in a bushy area.
"The bear lunged at the dog and engaged the dog, The other dog engaged and the bear saw one of the other women standing there," Ackles said. "She didn't know if she fell or if she was knocked over by the bear and doesn't know if she was scratched by the bear intentionally or the bear was trying to get at the dog.
"And the other woman, when the bear was standing on that person, tried to get in between them and was bit on the arm by the bear, so did sustain a bite mark to her lower arm."
The two were taken to hospital by their companions, who were not there at the time of the attack, and released later the same day. The woman who suffered the bite still has full movement of her arm, Ackles said.
"The bear did not shake its head, it bit and released," Ackles said. He said it was a small one, weighing about 150 pounds, and likely young.
By about 1:30 p.m. the incident had been reported to the BCCOS and within about 2 1/2 hours officers had traveled out to the scene but were unable to find the animal despite a search that included deploying a drone.
Ackles said the women agreed that the dogs startled the bear, its reaction was defensive and it backed off when it had the chance. The women, in turn, walked back along the road to meet their companions.
"Under these circumstances, we have not set any traps...we're not pursuing to capture or euthanize any bears at this time," Ackles said.
Other than to say the site is within 50 kilometres of Prince George and was on a deactivated logging, Ackles declined to provide any further details on where it is. He did say there are some large logging slashes in the area which would provide plenty of food for bears.
Ackles said the dogs were "great, well behaved Labs," but were off leash at the time and while people like to let their dogs run while out in the woods, it can lead to negative encounters.
"If you have a dog that's a lot more hyper - these were older dogs - that can agitate the bear and bring it back to you (keep it on a leash)," Ackles said. "This was just a chance encounter close up and as one of the people in the encounter said, 'we were kind of in four corners and the bear might have felt that it was surrounded and once that feeling was gone, it disengaged,'"
Ackles said bear spray can be helpful but also urged people to get training on how to use it.
"If you just buy bear spray and think it's the be all and end all and you deploy it in a windy area or where the wind is circling, you could make the situation worse," he said.
Ackles urged the public to continue to call the BCCOS hotline, 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) to notify officers of any troubles with bears or other wildlife.
