Posted on 09/11/2008 11:39:31 AM PDT by buccaneer81
Bear jumps on boat, mauls man Published Thursday September 11th, 2008 A7 By SCOTT SUTHERLAND The Canadian Press
VICTORIA - Salmon fishermen are no longer throwing fish guts on shore for black bears around Port Renfrew, B.C. after one climbed onto a dock, jumped into a man's boat and mauled him.
"All the bears in Port Renfrew are pretty docile," said fire Chief Dan Tennant.
"They're more afraid of people than people are of them and normally turn and high-tail it when they see people.''
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 didn't appear to be life threatening, he said.
Authorities said the man, 52, was a resident of Saltspring Island and was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Victoria, about 70 kilometres east of the community.
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.
The area is popular with recreational fishermen seeking salmon, halibut and groundfish and there are a "couple of hundred" boats tied up at the marina at any given time.
Tennant said it was not a large bear, but the incident was extremely unusual.
"Never, ever have I heard of anything like that here, and I doubt I ever will again," he said.
He said there have been large numbers of black bear and deer in the area this summer, but there have been no incidents.
People have been throwing fish remains on to the shore for years, and that has to stop, he said.
A necropsy on the bear was conducted Wednesday by provincial veterinarian Helen Schwantje in Nanaimo. She said the bear was old.
Feeding Yogi is rather stupid, all the same.
I heard the man Bearly survived
Someone should ping Kawana and his pup to take care of things there...
The guy would have been better off if he’d just been riding a bicycle.
Biker runs into 300-pound bear and lives to tell the tale
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2079937/posts
Sounds like there could be trouble bruin'.
Let's run down the checklist, shall we?
Abundant food source: check
Abundant food source associated with humans: check.
Bears no longer fear humans: check
Bear attacks human who undoubtedly smelled like fish: check.
Why is anyone suprised by this?
hahahaha
Last time I was in Alaska, we fished from a boat some 40-50 feet away from bears fishing off the rocks. These bears looked small, but there were a few that probably pushed 600-800 lbs.
1. swim across a river
2. Climb on a dock
3. ...think there was somethign else here
4. climb on his boat.
5. attack him
The word "moron" just wont do it.
a “small” bear is still twice your size, with claws, teeth and a lot of practice using them.
I wonder how the “friends managed to kill the bear”
Drat!
From the title I thought this was going to be another thread about Sarah Palin and nObama!
Makes you wonder how long this guy has been in his job.
See post # 13 for how a FReeper did it.
Oops, I misspelled him. Close from memory though...
I would avoid the area for . . how long does it take a black bear to starve I wonder?
Hungry, p!ssed bears I don’t need.
ake analysis with kook libs that love to throw hard working americans money to non-workers.
bear given “free food”.
bear didn’t think it was enough.
bear went after hard working fisherman to take more from him.
this is my post that i accidentally posted on a completely irrelevant thread by mistake
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