Canadian says he pleaded with black bear during attack: 'You don't have to do this'

901 Views 14 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Levant, Sep 11, 2019

Mad Scientist

Discussion Starter · Sep 10, 2019

https://www.foxnews.com/world/canadian-man-survives-pleads-black-bear-attack

A Canadian man fighting for his life begged his assailant to let him go, but his pleas went unheeded — which is probably because black bears don't understand English.

Brandon Lattie, 27, was on a walking trail in British Columbia at the Ferguson Lake Nature Reserve on Wednesday night when he says he spotted the bear, which began to chase him.

Lattie told CBC News he ran and jumped into a small lake, not expecting the bear to follow him.

"It happened so fast I couldn't even think, so that seemed like the right thing to do," he said.

But the swampy water slowed him and the bear swiped at Lattie, leaving him with scratch marks on his back and arm. The 27-year-old said the dogged bear even tried to hold him underwater.

"I think it was trying to hold me underwater. I was already physically tired and kind of out of breath from when I ran away and then the next thing I know I'm...going to try to get drowned by a frickin' bear," he told the news outlet.

Lattie said he noticed "there was at least a foot or two of water above me" and pushed himself "back up to fight back."
It was then, Lattie said, he resorted to begging.

"You don't have to do this," he said he told the bear. "You don't want to do it."

A family said they were nearby and saw Lattie running away from the bear in the lake. Lucky for Lattie, the family's dog began to bark, distracting the bear and giving the 27-year-old a chance to break free and swim to a dock.

"It could have been a whole lot worse," Lattie said. "As soon as I got hit, I just thought, 'OK, this is where I die. This is where my head gets chewed apart.'"

Separately, a 62-year-old Minnesota woman, Catherine Sweatt-Mueller, was killed by a black bear on Sept. 1 while on Red Pine Island in the Canadian waters of Rainy Lake.

Experts say the attack was extremely rare and the bear was being sent for a necropsy to determine a reason for the animal's abnormal behavior.

Black bears, according to Dave Garshelis, a bear research scientist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, are "very unaggressive" and tend to be timid around people.

Garshelis said that, on average, a fatal attack by a black bear happens about once a year in all of North America.

Two thoughts .....

Lattie is an idiot. You never ever run from a bear, retreat slowly and don't make eye contact.

If it was Kobs, he would have blasted the bear into the middle of next week.

Save

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

Mad Scientist

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 10, 2019

FYI .....

Save

Reactions: 1

Square target

· #3 · Sep 10, 2019

Mad Scientist said:
https://www.foxnews.com/world/canadian-man-survives-pleads-black-bear-attack

Two thoughts .....

Lattie is an idiot. You never ever run from a bear, retreat slowly and don't make eye contact.

If it was Kobs, he would have blasted the bear into the middle of next week.

Yes never run or try to climb a tree. I've heard running downhill, if you can may save you as "bears can't do that" but i've seen a few videos that show they can,,,,,or at least some can. I've always been told make yourself look bigger by raising your arms and yelling. If it's something other than a black bear and you're not armed just curl up, play dead and hope you're not eaten alive. We used to have bear roaming all around my dads house, might have had something to do with all the old donuts, table talk pies and subs?? Had a bunch of encounters with them, some close. For the most part they are very timid unless they have little ones around.

Hers one that got lucky.

Save

KILTED COWBOY

· #4 · Sep 10, 2019

The Bear Whisperer.
I didn't know Canadians spoke bear!
Do Grizzlies, Black and Brown bear have different dialects?

Save

Reactions: 2

Kobs

· #5 · Sep 10, 2019 (Edited)

I rarely go into the woods period when I do it's a park lol but if I lived in BC where wild life IS actually wild, and I HAD to go into the woods, screw the laws I'd be armed, no laws will protect me from a hungry bear.

And then you can prosecute me if you like but i'd still be alive and smiling in court.

Please Mr. bear don't eat me....

Unarmed in the woods means you're part of the food chain and think what you like, guys like this one are about at the rank of rabbits except bigger... and rabbits can run

See less See more

Save

Levant

· #6 · Sep 10, 2019

Kobs said:
I rarely go into the woods period when I do it's a park lol but if I lived in BC where wild life IS actually wild, and I HAD to go into the woods, screw the laws I'd be armed, no laws will protect me from a hungry bear.

And then you can prosecute me if you like but i'd still be alive and smiling in court.

Please Mr. bear don't eat me....

Unarmed in the woods means you're part of the food chain and think what you like, guys like this one are about at the rank of rabbits except bigger... and rabbits can run

Exactly! The bear does have to do that. If you're a bear, you eat meat. It's what you do. You can save 15% on car insurance.... Really, that should be a Geico commercial.

Save

Reactions: 1

surevaliance

· #7 · Sep 10, 2019

I am in the Pacific NW. Black bears and cougars are common here, so I never hike unarmed.

Save

Reactions: 2

Yosemite Sam

· #8 · Sep 10, 2019

Millenials, just use love.

Save

Reactions: 3

Kobs

· #9 · Sep 10, 2019

^^^ And a LOT of luck :lol:

Save

Square target

· #10 · Sep 10, 2019

Yosemite Sam said:
Millenials, just use love.

Maybe the bear just wanted a hug?

Save

Reloadron

· #11 · Sep 10, 2019

My one and only face to face with a black bear was while hunting in West Virginia. I was sitting on a ledge beside a grove of heavy foliage trees. I heard something moving towards me, I was expecting the large buck of my dreams when a large black bear exited maybe 25 feet in front of me. I brought my rifle up to a ready and not much happened. I looked at bear and bear looked at me. Bear stood up on hind legs and sniffed before dropping down and sauntering over to the river. In most cases a black bear will avoid human contact at all cost.

. Thinking the bear was happy to get away from there. Like most black bears he (or she) wanted nothing to do with humans.

Ron

Save

Gimp

· #12 · Sep 11, 2019

The comment of the victim of the bear attack reminds me of what the left is doing right now with gun policies etc. trying to talk your attacker into not attacking you, but your attacker is hellbent on killing you. no amount of talk or rules etc going to stop said attacker.

I wish there was a way to get the left to see this example of unreasonableness and draw the connection with what they are trying to do. where the bear is the person who is hell bent on killing. make a law that bear can't bite you make a law that bear can't claw you etc. make a law that says wild bears can only live in cage etc

Maybe then they will see the unreasonableness of their actions?

Save

Gimp

· #13 · Sep 11, 2019

Reloadron said:
My one and only face to face with a black bear was while hunting in West Virginia. I was sitting on a ledge beside a grove of heavy foliage trees. I heard something moving towards me, I was expecting the large buck of my dreams when a large black bear exited maybe 25 feet in front of me. I brought my rifle up to a ready and not much happened. I looked at bear and bear looked at me. Bear stood up on hind legs and sniffed before dropping down and sauntering over to the river. In most cases a black bear will avoid human contact at all cost.

. Thinking the bear was happy to get away from there. Like most black bears he (or she) wanted nothing to do with humans.

Ron

except when cubs are around. See cubs look for mother and vacate area ASAP. encountered Wild black bears 3 different times in my conservation work. One of those being pair of cubs that climbed up a tree near us. We hightailed for the car on that one, while watching for momma.

Save

Reloadron

· #14 · Sep 11, 2019

Gimp said:
except when cubs are around. See cubs look for mother and vacate area ASAP. encountered Wild black bears 3 different times in my conservation work. One of those being pair of cubs that climbed up a tree near us. We hightailed for the car on that one, while watching for momma.

Well yeah, that is pretty much true of all bears and a host of other animals when it comes to their young, including humans.

Ron

Save

Levant

· #15 · Sep 11, 2019

I saw a bear once - eating garbage on the edge of a dump in Fayetteville, NC. Only bear I've ever seen outside of a zoo or an exhibition cage.

Save

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month