Man taken to hospital after bear attack in Rockies: RCMP

A British Columbia man was taken to a Calgary hospital with “serious injuries” Thursday after being attacked by a grizzly bear on a mountainside in the Rocky Mountains near the BC-Alberta border, RCMP and wildlife officials said.

Police say the father and son were tracking a bear west of Highway 43 south of Elkford, B.C., when their 36-year-old son was “suddenly attacked by an adult grizzly bear” around 3 p.m.

The BC Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) later said the man was hunting.

“The man was able to defend himself with a firearm and the bear ran away,” Elk Valley RCMP said in a news release Friday morning when the father called for help.

Police said the man, who lives in nearby Sparwood, suffered broken bones, cuts and scrapes on his body, according to a BCCOS statement Friday afternoon.

Elkford Search and Rescue (SAR) search manager Kevin Atherton, who was on the scene after BC Emergency Health Services called for help, said the rescue was complicated by difficult, steep terrain and unpredictable weather. Local firefighters and paramedics were on the scene, police said.

“The object was actually about 500 meters deep in the bush in very thick and rugged terrain,” Atherton said. “There are very steep sections here. It used to be a logging area, so it gets thicker as it grows.”

Atherton said he called nearby crews in Sparwood, who used a rope to lower the man about 200 meters down the mountain. He was then placed on a stretcher before being taken out by helicopter by Fernie SAR crews.

“It's always our best option … if we can get the subject straight instead of beating around the bush,” he said.

Crews attached the man's stretcher to a cable and hoisted him into the helicopter while RCMP and wildlife officers “stand guard” around them, Atherton said.

“There's a wounded grizzly bear out there that's already done some damage and that's on our mind before we go there,” he said.

The man was taken to a heliport in Elkford, where STARS Air Ambulance airlifted him to Foothills Medical Center in Calgary, about 80 miles northwest, police said. Highway 43 was closed briefly as emergency services looked at the plane's landing sites.

The release said the man was in stable condition when he left the scene, and BCCOS said Friday afternoon he remained in hospital.

As of Friday morning, STARS confirmed the rescue, but a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services said the patient did not have consent to share his condition publicly.

Conservation officers searched for the bear and found it dead, which succumbed to its injuries around 9 p.m., BCCOS said. It was not said whether it was a bear the men were hunting.

“Officers are confident they have located the bear involved in the attack,” BCCOS said in a statement posted on its Facebook page, noting they are working with colleagues in Alberta to interview and investigate the victim.

Atherton said he and the other responders were “incredibly relieved” after the STARS flight took off for Calgary.

He said SAR volunteers are trained to evacuate injured people, but this was his first grizzly attack since joining Elkford SAR six years ago.

“Thank you to the many volunteers and paid staff who worked together to make the rescue a success,” Sparwood Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post Thursday evening.

“Thank you to members of the public for allowing the many ambulances to obey and operate safely.”