WARNING: Some of the content in this story may be disturbing
A Bella Coola man has posted video of a frightening encounter with a grizzly bear.
In the video, Lawrence Michalchuk approached what appears to be a grizzly bear and her cubs.
The footage shows him trying to scare the bears off his property by firing his shotgun, which he says was loaded with birdshot.
Instead of being deterred by the warning shot, the sow charges right at him.
Michalchuk fires another round directly at the bear, causing it to tumble to the ground. That gave him just enough time to scramble to safety before the sow got up and gave chase.
“It happened so fast, all I remember is thinking, ‘Boy, this is not a very good situation ’cause I don’t think I’m gonna make it back to the house,'” he said.
“To be honest with you, the thing that scared me the most is that my kids were going to witness this because they were watching it out the window. I just backed up and I was just praying that that shot would go off.”
Globalnews.ca coverage of bear encounters
Michalchuk says he lost a shoe in the encounter, but remarkably he and his dog — which can be seen coming within metres of the bear — escaped without injury.
Michalchuk tells us he believes the bear wasn’t injured either.
Conservation officers are now investigating.
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