A 10-year-old girl is in hospital with serious injuries after being mauled by a bear in Port Coquitlam, Saturday.
It happened around 5 p.m. on a popular trail near Shaughnessy St. and Lincoln Ave by Coquitlam River Park.
Witnesses say a father was out walking with his young daughter when the little girl was attacked by a bear. Much to the horror of her father, the girl was dragged into some bushes where she was mauled. It was a terrifying scene for those out on an evening stroll.
“I heard shouting, yelling,” says one witness who jumped into action when he saw the bear dragging the young girl around.
Witnesses and the father frantically tried to save the child, fighting off the sow with sticks and rocks.
“They were yelling call 911. They dragged her out and the bear chased. So they turned around, yelled at the bear and it backed off for a bit,” says a witness.
Once the bear backed off, the girl’s father quickly grabbed his daughter and drove her to a local hospital himself. She is believed to be in stable condition.
By the time conservation officers arrived to the scene, the sow and her cub were still in the area.
Conservation officer Sgt. Todd Hunter says the female bear “was destroyed in a very quick, humane manner.”
Her eight month old cub has been brought to the Critter Care Wildlife shelter in Langley.
It’s not clear what may have prompted the attack, but it appears that the sow may have been protecting its cub. There have been previous bear and wildlife sightings in the area.
“There’s evidence of a garbage can being ransacked and scattered into the woods,” says Sgt. Hunter.