Grizzly bears are aggressive animals. And truth be told, they need to be. They need to defend their territory, their offspring, and living in the wild is truly survival of the fittest. So when humans build homes in wild places, interactions happen. There have been several serious bear attacks over the past few weeks as hunters venture deep into the woods all over North America.
But this interaction happened in Bella Coola, British Columbia, a remote area on the B.C. mainland north of Vancouver Island near Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park, a place that has seen plenty of human-bear run-ins. Lawrence Michalchuk had left his children at his in-laws’ home and had just come back after a trip with his wife to pick them up. The bears apparently love this particular property and the family is extra careful. This sow grizzly with her cubs wouldn’t leave the area where it was feasting on fruit trees–where the children usually play. His story is intense, to say the least:
“I went and loaded the 12 gauge shotgun with three birdshot shells (#6 trap load) with the intention of shooting in the air to scare them away (they had been coming back regularly since we had left and they weren’t scared of noise),” said Michalchuk in a video description online. “I went outside, from underneath the deck, shot once in the air, and the sow started charging so I ran back inside the house. She then started walking her cubs away and I took that as a sign of submission, so I went outside again and when she got 65 yards away, I shot in the air again to keep pushing her along.
After that shot, the sow turned around and looked at me and I yelled at her to keep moving her on. Then in an instant, the sow turned and charged, head down, ears back, and hair flat. I knew this was a serious charge and I only had one shot left (of birdshot), and having dealt with bears while working 30-plus years on the central B.C. coast rivers with the Department of Fisheries, and having gone through repeated bear training with a shotgun, I knew if I turned and ran, there would have been contact. I didn’t want to blind the sow by hitting her in the face so I aimed at her right side to hopefully trip her up to buy me enough time to run inside the house. I waited as long as I could, backpedaling and losing my right Croc, almost tripping me up, until she was just across the driveway and then I shot, which did trip her up so I turned and ran inside the house.
For a split second, she bit my Croc that had fallen off, then she kept coming towards the house with her mouth open, ready to bite me, and I slammed the door. The last thing I remember was gravel hitting my truck as she turned and ran back (four limbs working fine) and took her cubs away. I later tracked her and her cubs a ways off our acreage; there was no blood, no hair and I know she’ll be sore but she’ll now think twice about approaching people. I talked it over with the local conservation officers, showed them the video, and they said I was totally justified in defending myself and family. I’m just glad it was me and not the kids out there.”
