CRANBROOK, B.C. — A Cranbrook, B.C., man is being treated for non-life threatening injuries in a Calgary hospital after being mauled by a grizzly bear.
B.C. conservation officer Joe Caravetta says the bow hunter was looking for elk east of Cranbrook Tuesday evening when he came across a sow grizzly with two cubs.
The man tried to scare the bear away but the sow charged him, biting and clawing him on the head and neck.
The man fought off the grizzly and when it left the area with its cubs he walked back to his vehicle and called for help.
Caravetta says conservation officers have closed the area and don't believe the grizzly was badly injured.
He says it appears the bear was protecting its cubs and there are no plans to kill the animal.
"These bears are common there and he (the hunter) just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"We do not feel that these bears are a public safety threat."
Caravetta, the inspector in charge of the Kootenay Boundary region, says there have been a lot of bear sightings in the area due to the poor berry crop this summer.
