Posted on 06/04/2008 2:26:03 PM PDT by george76
The husband of a 70-year-old grandmother who was killed by a bear in northern Quebec ...
Conservation experts set traps after Friday evening's attack, but ... the bear was still at large in the wilds of northern Quebec.
As she scouted a fishing hole for walleye, Ms. Lavoie became separated from her husband. Barely 10 minutes later, Mr. Lavoie felt something was amiss and went searching for his wife of 51 years. Metres away he came upon the nightmarish scene of her body being dragged into the forest by a bear.
Mr. Lavoie chased the predator for nearly 200 metres and managed very briefly to scare it away from his wife. He tried but was unable to carry her limp and bleeding body back through the dense spring foliage.
He left her and went for help. When he arrived with police, the bear had returned and was combative.
"The bear was still around and the bear was aggressive,"
The bear was so aggressive, police were forced to delay attempts to retrieve Ms. Lavoie's remains until early Saturday morning...
In 1991, a black bear killed a Toronto couple in Algonquin Park...
In 2001, a high-school student was attacked and partly eaten by a black bear 25 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.
In 2007, a Calgary woman, who was cycling on a trail near a British Columbia resort, was stalked and killed by a black bear.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
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I guess it was out of the question to shoot the damn thing
Too bad she didn’t have a pit bull dog and a knife.
The police arrived on scene with no means of dispatching a raging black bear? Maybe they left their firearms back at the office. Must not have been the Canadian Mounted Police of old.
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How do you tell the difference between black bear scat and brown bear scat.
If its from a black bear it smells like berries and vegetation. If its from a brown bear it smells like pepper spray and has little bells in it.
I don’t mean to make light of this tragedy. A black bear acting like this is extremely dangerous and needs to be shot.
In 2001, a high-school student was attacked and partly eaten by a black bear 25 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.
In 2007, a Calgary woman, who was cycling on a trail near a British Columbia resort, was stalked and killed by a black bear.
Let's see... that make s 4 attacks in 18 years? Sounds like those bears have really been behaving themselves.
Really. “shooo bear...ain’t gonna get it”
If black bears had the social advantages that other bears have, this wouldn’t happen.
Bear attacks ... the second such incident in West Virginia within a month.
The latest attack occurred Saturday night at a motel parking lot in Bluefield. Conservation officers with the Division of Natural Resources say a motel guest reported that a bear bit off the tip of one of his fingers.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200806030228
Thats just the ones we know about. Same thing for cougar and shark attacks.
If a tourist goes surfing out in the islands and doesn’t come back it could be drowning or it could be shark, but they will report it as drowning without any other evidence.
Dear God that is sad.
If I were unable to protect or save my Bride (of nearly 38 wonderful years) from any danger, I would not be able to live with myself.
The poor lady probably died a miserable death, but I sure feel bad for the old guy. I would have rather died trying to save my Bride.
Two people in WV have been bitten by black bears recently. Personally, I always have something in my pocket for “fun” when I’m in the woods.
Serious question, are private citizens allowed to possess guns in Canada? OTOH, they knew the hazards of roaming around unarmed in bear country.
I watched a TV program a few weeks ago.
They had some surprising info, at least for me.
If a grizzly attacks, play dead, protect your head. He’ll lose interest. Usually.
If a black bear attacks, aggressively defend yourself. While black bear attacks are unusual, they are out to kill you.
Canada allows hunting rifles, but not hand guns ( I believe ).
Maybe someone else knows exactly.
W T F ?
I thot I saw a sign in Santa Cruz, CA, to just wave your arms over your head and make yourself look really big.
She must have not thought of that REALLY STUPID solution. What a terribly sad thing for that man, for her.
“Climbing a tree can be an effective way to escape attack.”
Hah! Ive seen black bear RUN up trees - their claws hit the wood so hard and fast it sounds like someone shaking a bag of tin cans.
PS - What some people wont do for a good walleye dinner.
I’m going to have to go look in my “survival” books. I thought that it was best to curl up with your head down and hands on your neck. If you bring a bear” gun” though neither is not necessary, huh?
I’m going to have to go look in my “survival” books. I thought that it was best to curl up with your head down and hands on your neck. If you bring a bear” gun” though neither is not necessary, huh?
It saddens me to read stories like this, the pain and suffering that the lady went through. But it’s unforgivable that her body wasn’t recovered until the next morning because of the aggressive bear, a bullet was called for.
It seems they discourage hunting and procession of firearms any chance the get. Besides airports its one of the few place I don't carry. I feel very naked running around the woods up there.
I am wondering why the cops didn't shot the thing down here it would have been very dead very fast.
Should have brought the cat
Had the husband been armed, he might have been able to defend his wife earlier.
No telling if she was still alive after the first attack. When the husband left for some police help, the bear likely finished her off if she was not already dead.
No explanation on why the police were apparently not armed, either.
I live in the bush in Alaska. I always carry a extra large canister of pepper spray, have my dogs along to let me know if something is around (they go crazy if there is bear around. The one dog won’t even go down the trail if she
knows there is a bear), and a handgun. I count on the pepper spray more than a gun. I’m usually on a four-wheeler. The bears in Alaska have been very aggressive in the last year. I think it’s because they are meeting up with a lot more people.
2005....Jacqueline Perry
I’ve read a couple articles in the last several months about the bear pepper spray and it seems it’s pretty effective, at least according to those articles.
I believe your practice of having your dogs with you is very smart, they at least will warn you of them therefore avoiding a surprise attack.
A few years ago an acquaintance and his GF took a several week motorcycle trip from Colorado through Canada, destination Alaska. They planned on camping for the most part. At the border the Canadian customs official asked why they had a .416 Rigby along for the ride. "Well, we'll be camping in bear country for a couple weeks, maybe hundreds of miles from the nearest town," they replied.
"Wrong answer," said Mr. Customs. "Try again."
"We're headed to Alaska."
"Oh, so you're going hunting in Alaska? In that case, you're O.K.
They further had to endure a long lecture, pay some import/license fee, and leave with threats of disappearing into a gulag for their natural lives if they shot anything. I think they plan on taking the boat next time. They don't buy Canadian beer either.
wild critter ping.
Thanks for the link :
These bears have learned to and often prey on humans.”
There have been a number of bear attacks across Canada this summer.
A Manitoba man fended off a black bear in early September, just one week after a black bear killed another man in the province.
There have been four grizzly bear attacks in Alberta since June, including a fatal one on a female jogger near Canmore. And a woman in British Columbia was mauled by a bear in May.
I will remember this when girlangler and I go fishing.
Either may be owned.
Rifles and shotguns are classified as non-restricted firearms, hand guns as restricted firearms.
Different training courses and licenses are required for possession of the two types.
Restricted firearms are subject to more stringent rules governing transportation and use.
While at this time citizens may own handguns,
whenever there is a murder involving an handgun,
(in the vast majority of cases by someone in illegal possession of the gun)
there arises a great clamor from liberals for banning possession by law-abiding citizens.
They aren’t afraid anymore.
There were four different adult bear around my place last year—one or two of them each night. They were after the “pioneer” (native) neighbors’ garbage, etc. But there are too many bear around. And with or without garbage, they’re going to be trouble. We’ll see, come August through October.
What can Americans bring into Canada legally ?
Most bear pepper spray has a spray distance of 25 feet or more. Here’s what I carry: http://www.counterassault.com/html/bearquestions.html
See also: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1284001/posts?page=75#75
The spray can be good stuff, although some users of it have only been mauled a little. ;-) It’s not much good in the wind, though, and it’s windy almost every day here. ...unless you are young, quick and knowledgeable enough to get upwind before firing the stuff. Also, it’s not much good for trying to stop a bear from entering a house, especially with an asthmatic around. A bear that is already in the house will behave as if cornered.
All of that said, the spray is certainly better to have than nothing at all. A large bore weapon and much training is better. The bear will be perceived as a general threat before long, and they will be largely exterminated as pests again.
If the bear knocks down the tree and kills you, it was a grizzly.
If there was no trees around, and it kills you, it was a polar bear.
Aaah bears, my most troublesome critters up here in the Colorado Rockies. I have not had a human break-in attempt in over 10 years in Colorado (home invasion in Florida though), but have had two incidents with bears. One was when we were out of town and neighbor was watching the dogs. Came home to a window broken in. not just the glass, but the whole window frame was caved in including the nails being pulled out of the wall studs. The dryer vent was also clawed out and there were claw marks in the wood on the window where the bear tried to tear the window open, probably just before bashing it in. I assume it happened at night and the dogs were awakened and chased the bear off. It did not get inside.
Second incident happened when my wife heard something outside and I was looking out the windows to see if I could see anything. I had lights I could turn on around the house except on the back deck. I had ny nose against a large window, about 4ft X 4ft, while my wife was looking to find where she last left the flashlight. My wife found the flashlight and was about to hand it to me when something hit the glass hard. The double paned glass flexed and hit me in the nose and forehead, but did not break. My wife shined the flashlight out the window and we could see a black bear try to squeeze under the window sill to hide. I ran and grabbed the 12ga shotgun and decided to let the dogs out on the bear first, for training. The sliding glass doors were only about 4 ft from the bear and the dogs were right on his tail as he ran across the deck, jumped over the railing (1 story high) and jumped into a close pine tree. It climbed down head first and has not been seen again. The next morning you could see the muddy paw print on the outside that went across where my nose and forehead print was on the inside of the window. Really glad the window did not break!
Bears are strong.
They can and do rip open car doors, go thru house windows as well as rip off house siding.
They lean on locked door lever handles, destroy the mechanism, then enter house thru the door opening.
You might install motion activiated flood lights everywhere. Get the ones with pulse technology to minimize false alarms from wind and rain. They can be adjusted for time and sensitivity.
dang another misunderstood bear..
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