Swan Hills Bear Attack

Demonical

Demonical

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Bear attack!

Just got word from a field Op that F&W is on scene, in our Swan Hills operating area, and air ambulance is flying some guy out of the bush. Hope it wasn't a grizz'...

Hope the guy survives... this is a bad deal.

There is a big grizzly, with a real nasty attitude, that hangs out in the area, where this attack happened...
 
Where in swan hills? It's my home town and my buddy Wayne was just saying hunting season started there
 
Well there's a really big, bad tempered boar grizzly, that is known to all of us guys that travel that area. He's the kind that you do not want to run into, believe me. Very aggressive bear. So I sure hope it was not that bear.

But we gotta wait and get more info I guess... coulda been a small black bear.

Try to catch the news.
 
Ya had a black bear stalking us one time while fishing on the swan river in Devon's field wasn't cool got out of there fast
 
Just got info from my Supervisor, who came on the scene and talked to the first aid guys.

The attack happened west of Swan Hills, north of Freeman L. A hunter(s) had gone in a trail, which I am familiar with, I killed a bull moose in there back in '84 or '85. Not sure if it was one hunter or if there was a group.

The guy was attacked by a sow grizzly that had a cub (age?) with her. The bear attacked the guy and then left, I believe F&W are not going to pursue her.

He's torn up really f**king bad, don't know as to whether or not he will survive.
 
Demonical said:
Just got info from my Supervisor, who came on the scene and talked to the first aid guys.

The attack happened west of Swan Hills, north of Freeman L. A hunter(s) had gone in a trail, which I am familiar with, I killed a bull moose in there back in '84 or '85. Not sure if it was one hunter or if there was a group.

The guy was attacked by a sow grizzly that had a cub (age?) with her. The bear attacked the guy and then left, I believe F&W are not going to pursue her.

He's torn up really f**king bad, don't know as to whether or not he will survive.
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Yeah right, 21 cent. wildlife management. Let the bag go, so she can rip up somebody else. Busy place this time of the year and asking for trouble. I guess the next guy's family could sue. :D
 
^ It was not a predatory attack.

It's a sow with a cub. It's the bear's instinct to defend her cub. I support the right of the bear to defend her cub. I see no benefit in hunting her down and killing her.
 
Demonical said:
^ It was not a predatory attack.

It's a sow with a cub. It's the bear's instinct to defend her cub. I support the right of the bear to defend her cub. I see no benefit in hunting her down and killing her.
Click to expand...

I agree that she was just defending her cubs but I also believe she should be put down...any animal attacking a human should be shot. As it stands now she has no fear of man and she just taught her cub its ok to attack humans. Both need to be destroyed pronto before some one else get hurt. How would you feel if it was one of your family (a daughter or son) that was mauled.
Where the hell does the feeling come from that an animals life is an equal to a human life.
cheers
 
^ I do not place any bear's life above that of a human; that's not what I said. I just don't see what good is accomplished by hunting her down, after-the-fact, and I don't buy the story that her cub is now going to be more likely to attack someone in the future.



Still haven't heard anything further on the attack, or the condition of the guy that was mauled. I'm speculating that he would have been flown to Slave L hospital.
 
The good that would be accomplished is the fact that it will be guaranteed that "she" will not attack a human again.
 
Im guessing they would have taken him to edmonton as is not much farther than slave lake but has way better doctors. Any info if it was a local or not?
 
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/09/...tal-after-grizzly-bear-attack-near-swan-hills

A 48-year-old hunter is in a Grande Prairie hospital with “potentially life-threatening” injuries after he was attacked Tuesday by a grizzly bear near Swan Hills, says STARS Air Ambulance.



Cam Heke, a spokesman with STARS, says the man was hunting alone in a remote area 9 km northwest of Swan Hills — about 220 km northwest of Edmonton — when he was attacked by the bear sometime before 10 a.m.

“According to the patient, he was attacked from behind,” said Heke. “During the attack, the hunter fired a firearm at the bear and that scared it away.”

The man, said Heke, then walked five kilometres from where he was attacked to find cellphone coverage to make the emergency call.

“He sustained potentially life-threatening injuries,” said Heke, who said crews were dispatched from Grande Prairie after the man was transported by ATVs and a ground ambulance to a safe area where STARS could land.

No word has been made by Alberta Health Services on the status of the man’s condition.

Swan Hills RCMP, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, haven’t released any information on the status of the bear or further details on the attack.

The attack is part of a string of incidents involving bears in recent months.

A grizzly bear attack in July left a man in serious condition in the remote community of Oweekeno — about 350 km northeast of Vancouver.

The man, thought to be in his 50s, was airlifted to hospital in Victoria.

In that same month, the body of a woman believed to be a First Nations elder was found in what was an apparent mauling by black bears.

Four bears found near her remains, near Lillooet, about 170 km west of Kamloops, were killed by conservation officers, and their DNA samples were analyzed in Edmonton.

jeff.cummings@sunmedia.ca

@SUNJeffCummings

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So this bear got the guy from behind... not quite the story I had expected. Leaves a lot of questions to me: did he startle the bear as he walked by it at close range, or was it a predatory attack!? Hard to believe the latter.
I`ve got to believe he walked by the bear, suprised it at close range... maybe the cub was on one side of the trail and the sow on the other etc...

I hope the guy survives.
 
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We all hope he pulls through that's for sure. These stories really hit home b/c many of us know that it could happen to any one of us...

I appreciate your updates on events Demonical.
 
I just got off the phone with a buddy that lives in Swan Hills. The guy that was attacked is a Swan Hills resident. He is in surgery (or was) at GP hospital; they say he's not quite as good looking as he was, but is going to survive.

Now then, this guy had a trail camera set up, back in this area. He walked in there to check it, sat down on a log by his camera, and without even knowing it, he had sat down right between the sow & her cub...

How bad of luck is that!?

So he had no chance; sitting on his ass, unaware of the bears. Pointblank distance.

It was definitely a simple case of 'wrong place, wrong time', in between a sow grizzly and cub.
 
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