Photo: CTV

A mother and her child had quite a fright after they were charged by a black bear at their Port Coquitlam home late Wednesday night.

Events began unfolding about 11 p.m. when the woman pulled into her driveway.

The bear apparently got spooked and ran out onto the road where it was hit by another car.

The woman went inside for a moment, and, when she returned to get the child, the bear had returned.

"She was bluff charged by the black bear, which is a defensive mechanism," conservation officer Clayton Debruin told CTV Vancouver.

A search of the area by conservation officers came up empty.

Debruin believes the bruin was injured when it was hit, adding, it's a good sign they couldn't find the animal.

“It means he’s still mobile. Maybe he’s climbed a tree or he’s gone further north up to Burke Mountain,” he said. “That’s what our hope is – he’s still healthy enough to be mobile and survive on his own.”

Black bears are a low risk of attacking people but admits that risk does increase when the animal is injured. They are also more likely to look for easy food.

                                                                                                                 – with files from CTV Vancouver