British Columbia\u2019s Conservation Officer Service says a grizzly attack on a couple in the province\u2019s Interior over the weekend was likely \u201cdefensive in nature,\u201d and it\u2019s unlikely the bears were stalking people.<\/p>\n
In an update posted on Facebook, the service says its investigation into the Saturday attack along the Kootenay River near West Creston, B.C., found no evidence the two bears were hunting humans.<\/p>\n
The update adds there were no reports of bear activity or aggressive behaviour in the area before the attack, and the service is no longer trying to capture and kill the animals.<\/p>\n
The attack on a couple e-biking along the river saw a man significantly injured and requiring hospitalization and surgery in Cranbrook, B.C.<\/p>\n
The man\u2019s wife used bear spray to deter the animal attacking her husband and another that ran toward her, in what the service says was likely a \u201csurprise encounter\u201d for the bears, startled by the bikes on a corner of a trail bordered by thick brush.<\/p>\n
Trails in the area remain closed as a precaution.<\/p>\n
Conservation Officer Service Insp. Dave Webster says the couple was \u201cwell-prepared\u201d for possible bear encounters in the wild, helping reduce the severity of the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had bear spray, had it readily accessible, and knew how to use it,\u201d Webster says in the service\u2019s Facebook statement. \u201cWe\u2019d like to recognize these actions and encourage anyone hiking, biking or recreating in bear country to take similar precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident was one of two animal attacks reported in B.C. over the weekend by the service, with the other happening Saturday near Smithers, B.C., when a man deterred an attacking cougar by punching it in the face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Columbia\u2019s Conservation Officer Service says a grizzly attack on a couple in the province\u2019s Interior over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-32579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32579","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=32579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}