BC senior has minor injuries after bear claws her

The BC Conservation Officer Service is warning the public after a bear mauled an elderly woman outside her West Vancouver home.

The incident happened on Thursday evening in British Properties.

Conservation Officer Dean Miller said the woman heard a noise outside her garage and went to investigate, not realizing it was a bear trying to get in.

“The bear hit her, causing minor injuries to her arm, but she was a fairly elderly woman,” Miller said, adding that she had to be taken to the hospital to be checked out.

Miller said the bear and woman likely startled each other and that the bear’s attack was more of a defensive act than an aggressive one. Bears are extremely territorial and will defend any food source they have focused on.

“But it’s still a sign of aggression,” he said. “The outcome could be much worse, especially for someone who is a frail person. … This is exactly an example of why we don’t want to have bears in conflict in residential areas because it can create potentially very dangerous situations.”

Miller said they have not yet determined what to do with the bear, but human contact is one of the criteria they consider when deciding whether a bear should be considered a threat to public safety.

Conservation officers have been sweeping the neighborhood looking for the bear, but as of Friday they had no luck. They also went door to door looking for any information about any previous encounters with the bear and notified people that they should clean any bear attractants from their properties.

Miller said the woman had no major attractors outside of her property, and COS recommends that people keep their trash in locked garages until the morning of pickup.

But the North Shore Black Bear Society recommends taking even stricter measures, including freezing all organics, washing containers and packaging thoroughly, and washing trash and organics with vinegar after collection.

“Their sense of smell is so strong and that’s how they find food,” said Holly Reisner, co-executive director of the society. “Then you don’t have to worry so much about the security of how you store things, because we just don’t want the bear to be attracted to it in the first place.”

If a bear is on your property and accessing a food source, it’s too late to deter it and it’s not safe to intervene, Reisner added.

“You have to wait until the bear is done and let them go,” she said. “And then, after the fact, work to reduce what attracts the bear to your property.”

Reisner said 2024 was a fairly quiet year for bear activity, with most conflict reports coming from homes in West Vancouver.

The society works year-round doing public education, advising people to keep their properties free of tree fruit, trash, grill grease, bird feeders and other things that attract bears into trouble.