Man attacked by black bear in Mission, suffers no injuries

A man was walking back with his dinner from a fast food restaurant in Mission on Thursday night when he came face to face with a black bear.

He was walking along a trail near the Cedar Valley Connector and 6th Avenue and he got the shock of his life.

“I was walking through the trail when out of nowhere without warning, the bear came out of nowhere,” said Elias Hart. “I turned around to run, he knocked me down, and then, luckily there was a fence there so I grabbed the fence and started yelling at the bear as loud as I could.”

Hart then said the bear started to chase him.

“Got up and I started waving my hands,” he said. “I got up at the same time he swatted at me, he just about got me, and as I got up to turn around to run again he kept chasing me and chasing me, and I would stop and turn around and he would stop, and I’d yell and he’d stop.”

When the two arrived at a busy road, the bear just took off.

“It’s just craziness,” said Hart.

He has seen a bear once in the area, but never this close.

“I thought I was done. You hear about bear attacks but I’d never thought it would happen to me.”

Hart suffered no serious injuries and was checked out as a precaution.

Conservation officers are now looking for the bear.

“This is quite a rare occurrence, to be swiped at by a single bear and knocked to the ground” said officer Cody Ambrose. “We don’t see this too often.”

“When you’re in this type of situation it’s best to avoid these types of trails at night.”

Ambrose said there are quite a few bears out in Mission at this time, and that problem is heightened with people leaving garbage out at night.

“People need to lock up their garbage 24 / 7,” he said.