Black bear attacks and kills grandmother, 70, on fishing trip

[Spiel]

Black bear attacks and kills grandmother, 70, on fishing trip

 

 

June 2, 2008

KATE HAMMER / Globe and Mail

 

 

 

The husband of a 70-year-old grandmother who was killed by a bear in northern Quebec fearlessly chased the wild animal off his wife's battered body, according to family members.

 

Conservation experts set traps after Friday evening's attack, but according to police, as of last night, the bear was still at large in the wilds of northern Quebec.

 

Cecile Lavoie and Alexandre Lavoie, 73, were in remote country nearly 600 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, where the retirees often spent the weekend fishing or hunting deer.

 

According to her daughter, Ms. Lavoie felt at home in the woods and on the banks of the Theo River, where the bear attacked.

 

As she scouted a fishing hole for walleye, Ms. Lavoie became separated from her husband. Barely 10 minutes later, Mr. Lavoie felt something was amiss and went searching for his wife of 51 years. Metres away he came upon the nightmarish scene of her body being dragged into the forest by a bear.

 

Mr. Lavoie chased the predator for nearly 200 metres and managed very briefly to scare it away from his wife. He tried but was unable to carry her limp and bleeding body back through the dense spring foliage.

 

He left her and went for help. When he arrived with police, the bear had returned and was combative.

 

"The bear was still around and the bear was aggressive," said Sergeant Gregory Gomez del Prado, a spokesman for the Quebec provincial police. "It was dark so it was hard to find the woman's body."

 

The bear was so aggressive, police were forced to delay attempts to retrieve Ms. Lavoie's remains until early Saturday morning, after it retreated into the deep woods north of the small community of La Sarre.

 

Yesterday Ms. Lavoie's family gathered at her Beaucanton home. Mr. Lavoie, the retired owner of a logging machinery business his wife helped him build, is still in shock according to his daughter, Christine Lavoie.

 

"She was an angel," Christine said yesterday in a telephone interview. "Fishing and hunting were her favourite activities, she was in her paradise."

 

According to the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Fauna website, black bears are the species most commonly found in Quebec. This species rarely attacks humans and only four people have been killed by black bears in that province over the past 25 years.

 

In 1991, a black bear killed a Toronto couple in Algonquin Park, baffling wildlife experts as it left the campers' food stores untouched.

 

In 2001, a high-school student was attacked and partly eaten by a black bear 25 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.

 

In 2007, a Calgary woman, who was cycling on a trail near a British Columbia resort, was stalked and killed by a black bear.

 

Attacks sometimes occur in the spring when bears awake from hibernation and are hungry. According to wildlife experts, a long winter and large amounts of snow meant this year's hibernation season stretched a few weeks longer than usual.

 

In the event that one is approached by a black bear, the ministry website recommends moving slowly and avoiding eye contact in order to evade being identified as prey by the bear. Climbing a tree can be an effective way to escape attack.

 

According to her family, the attack on Ms. Lavoie happened so quickly she didn't even have time to scream, let alone reach for the bear spray she carried with her. As accomplished hunters and campers who were born and raised in northern Canada, the Lavoies were well-versed in the recommended tools for avoiding and dealing with bear attacks.

 

It remains unclear why the bear attacked Ms. Lavoie.

 

In addition to her husband, she leaves behind five children and 11 grandchildren.