Update: Tourist in bear conflict blames self not bear
The scene of this incident near Quarry Lake in Canmore is one I’m very familiar
with. Our house is near the area, and I’ve walked under the powerline hundreds of times.
Quarry lake in Canmore
We saw two ESRD vehicles on Peaks drive where it intersects the Powerline pathway last night. The trail under the powerline was closed with barricades and yellow tape.
The Calgary Sun has a story today Tourist survives Canmore bear encounter but what’s more interesting are the comments following the report. The man who was involved in the incident, Torben Lund, actually chimed in after a number of comments had been posted, some questioning whether it was even a bear. For example, “Charged and bit then went away, brown fur. I don’t think it was a bear.”
A CBC story has a quote from Wildsmart’s Kim Titchener “there is a cinnamon coloured bear with two cubs in the area and it might have been a defensive attack by the mom.”
Mr Lund sounds like a reasonable person who was probably momentarily distracted, and I imagine the bear was busy devouring buffalo berries which are now ripe and in plentiful supply. It would have been easy to get too close. The vegetation under the powerline has grown considerably since I took the photo in 2011, and could conceal a bear until you’re almost on top of it.
Update: A more detailed story has been posted in the Crag and Canyon: Tourist survives Canmore bear encounter
Comments from Calgary Sun story
Unfortunately the innocent animals always come out the losers in the long run after encounters with idiot humans…
And why is this tourist an idiot Pete? You may get your close encounter one day even if do every thing “right”.
Perhaps the word ‘humans’ was used in the collective sense.
Canmore is not the sleepy hamlet that it used to be, with subdivisions going up both sides of the valley. Doesn’t leave much of an animal corridor.
Uninformed and unprepared… And FYI I’ve had plenty of close calls with bears over many years spent in the wilderness. The difference is I am informed and prepared…