Rugby coach Lee Garrett said he was heading to his car after practice at the Banff Recreation Grounds Tuesday night, when a driver opened her car window and yelled: “There’s a bear heading straight towards you!”
“I’m thinking it’s maybe 100 metres down the road, so I was trying to look for it,” Garrett told Global News on Friday. “And then out from behind this tree about 30 metres in front of me pops the bear. And she kind of sees me and picks up a little bit of a jog — not in any kind of aggressive way — I think more kind of curious, but she was heading straight for me.
“So I had that moment of panic when I stopped and thought, ‘Oh, no. What’s going to happen here?'”
Garrett said he went to his car and called out to the rest of his group — about 80 people — to let them know there was a bear on the pitch.
He said there was a “bit of panic” as the group moved away and the bear sniffed out the rugby equipment before heading back into the nearby woods.
Parks Canada identified the grizzly as Bear 148, a six-and-a-half-year-old female that chased a hiker and her dogs along Spray River Loop on April 15 and then three hikers on the Cascade Trail near Mount Norquay over the past weekend.
Banff National Park resource conservation manager Bill Hunt said the bear has never been a problem in the past.
“She’s lived in the Bow Valley for many years — has had a lot of encounters with people over the years,” he told Global News in an earlier interview. “She’s fairly communicative with people, so if you come upon her she’ll snort and huff and paw at the air and give you an indication that she wants you to back off.
“But in all that time we’ve never had any really negative encounters…but she does let you know that you’re in her space.”
Watch below: A group of hikers sought refuge in a Parks Canada truck after Bear 148 chased them in Banff National Park.
Hunt expects Bear 148 will continue to move in and around the Bow Valley.
He said people who venture into bear country need to know the animals are out and about.
Hunt recommends people carry bear spray, travel in groups of four or more, and make noise while hiking or biking to avoid any surprise encounters.
— With files from Global’s David Boushy
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