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Man chased up tree by aggressive black bear in Kootenays

Chased up tree by bear

A man narrowly escaped serious injury earlier this month after he was chased up a tree by a black bear in the West Kootenays.

Over the Victoria Day long weekend, Francis Levasseur was jogging near his friend's farm in the small community of Hills, B.C., just north of New Denver, when he came upon a large, aggressive black bear.

Levasseur tried yelling at the bear and waving a stick at it, but after it charged at him, Levasseur quickly climbed a nearby tree. Luckily, the tree was too small for the large bear to climb, and Levasseur remained stuck in the tree for several hours. At one point, the bear pretended to leave the area, but then charged him again after he climbed down.

As night fell, nearby resident and head of the Hills Emergency Services Society Mat Phillips heard Levasseur yelling for help. Phillips grabbed his bear spray, machete and dog and found Levasseur in the tree, and managed to scare the bear off.

Phillips drove Levasseur home and reported the frightening incident to the RCMP and Conservation Officer Service.

Enlisting the help of local bear biologist Wayne McCrory, Phillips and McCrory later investigated the incident site. Not finding any animal carcass in the area that the bear may have been feeding on, and finding no evidence the bear had cubs, McCrory determined the bear had considered Levasseur as prey.

The Valhalla Wilderness Society says only 56 people have been killed by predaceous black bears in all of North American since 1900.



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