A bear safety specialist says parts in and around Calgary should be considered \u201cbear country\u201d after a hunter was mauled by one south of Cochrane Thursday.<\/p>\n
EMS says they were called to an area west of the city near Highway 22 and Highway 8 about a hunter injured by a bear just before 1 p.m.<\/p>\n
Public education officer Stuart Brideux explains the man was transferred to Foothills Hospital by STARS ambulance in serious but stable condition.<\/p>\n
A statement from Carstairs Minor Hockey Association confirms the victim is its vice president and coach, Jesse Sayer.<\/p>\n
The bear was killed by his partner, according to Fish and Wildlife and noted by Kim Tichener, founder of Bear Safety and More.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man was injured, and he was very fortunate that the person he was with was able to stop the attack,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, a second bear fled the scene, which she says was \u201clikely\u201d a cub.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question now is, will that cub survive on its own?\u201d Tichener said.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Minister of Forestry and Parks, Todd Loewen, says three cubs were in the area of the incident, and they will be allowed to hibernate after Fish and Wildlife officers consulted wildlife specialists within the ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cubs appear to be in very good shape, and of good size and weight, and based on their observed movements, they likely have a den nearby,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the time of year they would normally start hibernating, so they will likely be denning for the winter soon, and there will be abundant food sources for them when they emerge in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the bear education safety founder says programs \u2014 along with bird feeder and compost bylaws \u2014 are needed to better live with them, particularly as they continue to venture onto Prairie landscapes<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this would be pretty shocking for people \u2026 they\u2019re just not used to seeing bears in that area,\u201d Tichener said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can definitely say now that the western and southern part of the City of Calgary, as its expansion, has now gone into their country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tichener points out that hunting season can be a dangerous time as woodsmen move quietly in search of prey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith hunting, you\u2019re quiet. You\u2019re often by yourself, maybe with one other person. You\u2019re trying to call in animals like prey species, like elk,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She says anyone heading out should do so as a group because the noise made is louder, and someone is there to help if something unexpected should happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuy yourself a can of bear spray. Get a holster, and the next time you\u2019re going to go out into bear country, you\u2019re wearing it. You\u2019re keeping your dog on leash, you\u2019re making noise,\u201d Tichener said.<\/p>\n
With files from Nadia Moharib<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bear safety specialist says parts in and around Calgary should be considered \u201cbear country\u201d after a hunter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-256399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}