Conservation officers are warning the public tonight after a man was attacked by a bear outside his Port Alberni home early Tuesday morning.
The man had gone out for a smoke when he heard the bear snort.
The bear then pushed him over. He high tailed it back into his home but the bear clawed his back leg, slicing his pants.
After the incident, conservation officers set traps for the bear.
“I mean this is a fairly rare incident,” said Sgt. Scott Norris, a Conservation Officer.
“But in BC in the last number of years we’ve had quite a few attacks in urban areas where bears are looking around for people’s garbage, compost, fruit trees and quite a few are surprise attacks. The bears are stumbling around your yard and you walk out in the dark.”
A compost bin in the Port Alberni neighbourhood recently pulled apart by the black bear.
The BC Conservation Service says it’s received numerous calls in the neighbourhood in the past few weeks about two different bears.
It says people should keep garbage inside, pick fruit out of trees and secure their compost bins to avoid bears wanting to come into the neighbourhood.
They say the bear involved in the attack will likely have to be put down as it has become habituated to food sources in the city.
Kendall Hanson
