Two women who survived a near-death experience this week when they were attacked by a black bear in Sault Ste. Marie say the bear was just protecting her cubs. “It’s just happened that we walked into her space and she reacted with her motherly instinct to protect her cubs,” said Crystal MacDonald. The incident took place when MacDonald and her friend Aja Wilson were walking their dogs, Mia and Rosebud, on Wednesday afternoon. They were walking along a popular trail near the end of Peoples Road. Just a few minutes into the rainy hike, they came face-to-face with a mother bear and her cubs. “I see the dogs running at me. And then behind them is a big black bear barreling at me,” Wilson said. “I turned to run, but realized very quickly that’s not the … correct thing to do. So the bear bit me on the back side. And then I dropped to the ground and rolled into the fetal position, and the bear was on top of me.” By frantically yelling and waving her arms, MacDonald was able to get the bear’s attention. “When I saw the bear run, pass and aim for Aja, like I thought for sure, like this was it, like my friend was going to be shredded,” she said. “And then she turned her attention on me and started, like, galloping towards me with her mouth open.” “Like, I can vividly see,” MacDonald continued. “And then she stood up on her back legs and went to pounce on me. As she did that, I turned around and there was a bit of a downslope. And I fell downward. I hit my head and landed on my wrist. And (the bear) got a hold of my arm and she was there with my arm in her mouth, and she was breathing, and I could see the dogs jumping on her.” Wilson said MacDonald’s actions likely saved her life. “I’m just so grateful for my friend also, who was so brave,” she said. “Because that bear really didn’t have to get off of me. And it could have been a lot worse than it was.” MacDonald’s dog, Mia, a four-year-old German shepherd-Husky mix, eventually led the bear away. The brave pup found her way home a few hours later with minor injuries. MacDonald herself suffered two broken bones in her arm and some bruising elsewhere. Wilson had multiple bite wounds and lacerations from the bears claws. Her dog, Rosebud, a year-and-a-half-old Pitbull-Lab mix, came away without physical injuries. The pair agree that the bear was not at fault – she was just defending her cubs. They’re happy to be told the Ministry of Natural Resources isn’t pursuing lethal force should they locate the bear. Bear expert Mike McIntosh, who runs the Bear With Us Centre for Bears, said that black bear attacks are very rare. But when cubs and unleashed dogs are involved, the odds of an attack increase considerably. “Over 50 per cent of those attacks involved off-leash dogs,” McIntosh said. “(But) a dog on leash is an excellent deterrent. The bear will smell the dogs, hear the commotion, smell the people as well, and leave the area most often.” McIntosh said observing your environment for bear scat or nearby berry bushes is also important to lessen your likelihood of a run-in with a bear. MacDonald and Wilson said they’ll be taking a hiatus from their wooded hikes, but hope their bear encounter leads others to learn more about bear safety.
