Yukon woman narrowly escapes bear attack, credits hair clip

By Sarah Plowman, CTV National News Journalist

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    FREDERICTON, New Brunswick (CTV Network) — A woman in Yukon believes her hair clip helped save her during a bear attack.

On June 30, Vanessa Chaput was running with her dog Luna along a trail near Haines Junction, Yukon, when she came face to face with three grizzly bears.

“I was right beside them and it was just too close,” she said in an interview with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (ATPN).

Growing up in bear country, she learned to have a lot of respect for the large mammal.

When she encountered three, Chaput said she tried to give them space, but her dog got off leash and chased two bears. The other bear attacked her.

“When the bear had taken me down with my head in its mouth, my first thought was just kind of protect your vitals, so I went straight into the fetal position,” she told the network.

“My saving grace is from Walmart,” she said, holding up a palm-sized plastic hair clip she was wearing at the time.

Bear attack

When the clip broke in the bear’s mouth, Chaput believes it may have stunned it. That’s when the bear let her go. She hid behind a tree but it charged at her again before Luna distracted it.

“If it wasn’t for my dog barking, the bear was going to come finish the job,” Chaput said to ATPN.

Bloodied and injured, she said she headed to the highway where she called 911 and her husband who picked her up. She’d spend weeks in hospital.

Her right arm has puncture wounds, a broken bone and nerve damage.

“And then my tricep was torn in two places,” she said.

At the time of the incident, a nearby campground was evacuated and conservation officers euthanized three bears matching the description of those involved.

Despite the incident, she holds no hard feelings and is speaking publicly so others can learn from her experience.

“I don’t blame the bears for what happened. I don’t blame my dog or myself. It was wrong place at the wrong time. Again it could have happened to anybody,” Chaput said.

Kim Titchener, president of Bear Safety & More, said bear attacks are increasing and Canadians need to understand bear safety practices. She points out how the three bears in this case were known to be in the area the last two bear seasons and had been actively feeding on vegetation.

She suggests anyone going on a trail bear country — whether black or grizzly bear — should make noise.

“So every couple of minutes, as you’re either walking or running or biking, just letting out whoops and hollers, so that if a bear is ahead of you on the trail, they hear that,” Titchener said.

She also urges people to carry bear spray on a holster.

“So if you do have a close range encounter, you can pull it out really quickly,” she said.

“It is a highly effective tool at stopping both defensive and predatory bear attacks.”

Titchener highlighted the importance of travelling in groups, keeping kids close by and dogs on a leash, noting how dogs can run after bears and cause them to feel defensive and attack the animal or their owner.

With files from Aboriginal Peoples Television Network’s Jordan Haslbeck

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