A black bear hunter stays hospitalized after being attacked by a grizzly bear within the mountains of British Columbia on Thursday. The 36-year-old hunter shot and killed the bear however not earlier than he sustained a number of critical accidents, in keeping with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He was airlifted from the world after his father, who was looking with him when the assault occurred, known as for assist. The assault stays underneath investigation by the British Columbia Conservation Workplace, and the company didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In a press release, the RCMP defined that the daddy and son “had been monitoring a bear with canine” when the grownup grizzly instantly attacked the son. The 2 males have been looking on a steep mountainside south of Elkford, which lies within the Canadian Rockies simply west of the Alberta border. Each males have been locals, in keeping with the RCMP, and the son lives in close by Sparwood. “The person suffered critical accidents,” the RCMP stated, “together with damaged bones and lacerations to his physique throughout the assault.”
Sooner or later throughout the assault, the son was capable of shoot the bear with the firearm he was carrying. Neither the RCMP nor the BCCOS have shared any particulars concerning the firearm used, however it was probably the identical rifle or shotgun he would have been utilizing to hunt black bears; Canada has strict laws prohibiting hunters from carrying handguns until they’ve a particular license or express permission from the federal government.
The BCCOS defined in a Facebook post that conservation officers finally discovered a useless grizzly bear within the space after an intensive search. They’re assured it was the identical bear concerned within the assault and stated “the bear succumbed to its wounds.”
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Though grizzly bear looking has been banned within the province since 2017, B.C.’s black bear season is presently open, and laws enable using unleashed canine to hunt black bears. It’s unclear if the canine have been unknowingly monitoring a bear that turned out to be a grizzly as a substitute of a black bear, or in the event that they have been pursuing a black bear when the grizzly bear attacked.
Grizzly Bear Assault |
A staff of Conservation Officers responded to a report of a bear assault close to Elkford on Thursday…
Posted by Conservation Officer Service on Friday, May 17, 2024
The RCMP coordinated with the BCCOS and different companies to rescue the hunter round 3 p.m. on Thursday. Search-and-rescue personnel transported the sufferer greater than 650 ft down the mountainside, the place he was lifted right into a helicopter with a protracted line after which taken to Calgary Foothills Hospital for therapy.
Officers say the hunter was in secure situation when he was airlifted on Thursday. A spokesperson with the B.C. authorities told reporters on Sunday that the person had been transported to a different hospital however didn’t present any updates on his standing.
The Could 16 grizzly assault got here simply six days after another grizzly attack occurred in Squamish, B.C. Officers concluded that the non-fatal assault was “defensive in nature” as a result of the grizzly had cubs close by, they usually selected to not seize or kill the bear.
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On Sunday, one other critical bear assault was reported in Wyoming’s Grand Teton Nationwide Park, which lies greater than 600 miles south Elkford. Particulars are slim, however Jackson Hole News and Guide stories that the sufferer was medevacked round 6:30 p.m. The park’s chief of employees Jeremy Barnum instructed the native information outlet that the assault remains to be being investigated, and that officers don’t but know whether or not it was a grizzly bear or a black bear.