C.B. Canada- Un homme tué par une ourse Grizzli

[Animal 0]

Invermere man mauled to death by female grizzly
Body found on a remote forestry road two days after he went missing

Darah Hansen
Vancouver Sun, with files from the Prince George Citizen

Friday, September 23, 2005

PRINCE GEORGE - Conservation officers in Prince George are on the hunt for a
female grizzly and her two cubs after a 60-year-old Invermere man was mauled to
death while walking along a remote forestry road about 100 kilometres southeast
of the city.

The body of Arthur Louie was discovered by police early Thursday morning -- two
days after he was reported missing by co-workers at a gold mining camp set up
along the Bowron River.

Clues left behind at the attack site, including scuffle marks and footprints,
have led conservation officers to surmise Louie likely came across the bears
suddenly and had no time to run away.

"It looks like it was all of a sudden, boom, there they were on top of him,"
said Bob Coyle, senior conservation officer.

Louie's death is the first fatal bear attack in B.C. since 2002.

According to Prince George RCMP, Louie was last seen driving out of the mining
camp about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. His broken-down vehicle was found by police at
2:20 a.m. Thursday along the remote road.

Not far from the vehicle were telltale signs of a bear encounter.

"The members found some personal effects -- a hat, a notebook and things," said
RCMP Sgt. Wayne Gordey. "It was pretty clear what had happened. It was dark and
they could hear the bear still in the vicinity."

The police officers sought help from conservation officers and later Thursday
morning they found the body of the missing man.

Coyle said it appears Louie was trying to walk back to the mining camp after his
vehicle got a flat tire. He said the dense bush in the area, combined with the
narrowness of the road, probably obscured man from bear, and vice versa, until
they were practically on top of each other.

"From what the investigation has shown at this time it's quite likely he
surprised the sow and her cubs," Coyle said.

Coyle said it's rare for a grizzly to initiate a predatory attack on a human.
More likely, he said, this was a defensive attack.

"It's hard to say why, exactly. She might have been protecting her cubs or felt
her cubs were threatened," he said.

Snares have been set in the area in an effort to capture all three bears. Once
that has been done, Coyle said conservation officers will decide their fate.

"They may well be destroyed. That's a decision that has yet to be made," he
said.
Coyle said Prince George residents should not feel threatened by news of the
attack.

"We certainly don't have any indication that we have a real bad situation or a
real problem bear here," he said.

Christopher Bayduza, of Ardrossan, Alta., was the last person to be killed by a
bear in B.C. The 31-year-old oil-rig worker was attacked by a black bear in
northern B.C. in September, 2002, as he walked to the back of a trailer near the
drilling rig where he was working with a five-man crew.

In May of this year, 27-year-old Julia Gerlach of Prince George was mauled by a
black bear as she worked in the bush about 150 kilometres north of Fort Nelson.
One ear was torn off as the bear ripped at her scalp. A co-worker fired a
shotgun blast to scare the bear off.

And earlier this month, 13-year-old Christopher Solecki survived a grizzly
attack on his family's ranch, about 30 kilometres south of Burns Lake.

Since 1985, seven people have been killed by black bears in B.C., and six
people, including Louie, by grizzlies.


FATAL ATTACKS RARE:

- The last fatal bear attack in B.C. was on Sept. 1, 2002, when an Alberta
oil-rig worker was killed in northern B.C. by a black bear.

- In the 29 years between 1969 and 1997, 19 people were killed in B.C. due to
encounters with bears. Seven deaths were attributed to grizzlies, five to black
bears, and in the case of seven other deaths, the species was not specified.

- Attacks are most likely to occur when the bears are active -- usually from May
to October and especially during August and September.

Source: B.C. Wildlife Branch

Ran with fact box "Fatal Attacks Rare", which has been appended to the end of
the story.

The Vancouver Sun 2005