Grizzly bear charges at man near Bella Coola

BELLA COOLA (NEWS 1130) – A terrifying ordeal for one family near Bella Coola has been caught on camera and posted online.

Lawrence Michalchuk says he planned to just fire a shot into the air to scare a bear and her cubs away, but things escalated rather quickly.

“I shot above its head and then it moved off and it chased its cubs away,” he tells NEWS 1130. “And then a second time I shot to keep it moving — it was about 65 yards away — and it was still moving on there.”

He says at this point, the bears were at the edge of his property.

“Then I yelled at the bear, and that’s when the bear came down head down, ears back, and I knew that’s a pretty serious charge.”

Michalchuk says at that moment, he knew it was too late to make it back into the house. He waited for the bear to get close enough, with the hopes of just clipping the Grizzly in the leg, not wanting to seriously hurt the animal, in order to knock it down.

“So I could buy me some time to hopefully get back in the house,” Michalchuk explains. “I turned and ran and it bit my Croc and then it kept coming. I just hid underneath the deck, and there’s an electric fence so I jumped over.”

The video shows Michalchuk firing a birdshot at the bear, which tumbles to the ground but quickly gets back up.

He managed to make it inside, slamming his metal door behind him. But Michalchuk says he could hear the bear outside.

His family shared a big hug once he was inside, but the father says his main concern was that his children were watching this whole ordeal unfold.

“I could have been either really badly mauled, or they could have seen their dad get killed. In a way, I was totally relieved of the fact that I know that bear is not going to be coming back to this property.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following video contains graphic content and language. It may not be suitable for all viewers, and discretion is advised.

Michalchuk, who used to work with the Fisheries department, says he’s been dealing with bears for more than three decades.

“Over working with these bears for years… once they associate noise with some sort of pain or something like that, they don’t want to come back then,” he explains. “These bears are getting more habituated to noise and air horns, stuff like that. So I feel good with the fact that the bear’s going to be hurting, but it’s going to be fine.”

 

He’s defending his actions, saying he was just trying to protect his family from an aggressive animal.

“It just scares me to think it could have been one of my kids, could have been someone else’s kids,” he says, adding there have been maulings reported in the area and citing other bear encounters that have turned violent.

Michalchuk says he had been out of town and returned home early. He suspects the bears were circling his home.

According to his post on YouTube, Michalchuk has shown the video to Conservation Officers, who he claims said he was justified in defending himself and his family.

While this was a close call, Michalchuk says he doesn’t want to paint a bad picture of all bears.

“They’re more habituated because of the fact there are so many people here taking pictures of them on the river and they’re totally accustomed to that. And so many people bring their dogs and they just let the dogs harass them while they’re just eating fish.”

He adds those who are criticizing his actions don’t understand where he’s coming from, and reiterates that the bear is still alive, despite it likely feeling some pain after being grazed.