Skip to main content

A Prince George woman who was viciously mauled by a black bear in British Columbia's northern region is in stable condition in hospital Tuesday after she suffered severe bites and lost a piece of her scalp and part of an ear.

Julia Gerlach, 27, a triathlete and university student, was surveying a dense bush for an environmental company in a remote region more than 150 km north of Fort Nelson, B.C., when the 90-kilogram bear attacked Friday afternoon.

"The attack was territorial, aggressive and unavoidable. While trying to reach for my bear spray, I was knocked to the ground and the bear was on top of me," Ms. Gerlach said in a written statement from the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. "All I remember is using the bear spray and the bear ripping skin and muscles from my skull and arms."

Ms. Gerlach's co-workers likely saved the woman's life by scaring the bear away and calling for help.

The 27-year-old was taken to hospital in Fort Nelson, and then transferred to Edmonton for extensive surgeries.

This attack, the first documented case this year in Northern B.C., was not abnormally brutal, said Doug Gillett, manager for conservation officer services in the region.

"The attack was predatory in nature. The bear mistook this young lady for prey but why that happened or what the final intent was, only the bear knows," he said, adding that the average-sized male bear was healthy before officers caught and killed the creature.

As the weather has warmed, Ms. Gerlach hasn't been the only one to suffer the wrath of a hungry bear.

Warnings were issued across the Rocky Mountain foothills in B.C. and Alberta after a spate of serious attacks across both provinces.

Last Saturday 32-year-old Lyle Simpson was bitten in the arm when he tried to fend off a Grizzly while hiking in the Ghost River Waiparous wilderness area northwest of Calgary.

Then on Sunday, a man and a woman escaped injury by a malnourished black bear by climbing a tree west just of Rocky Mountain House, Alta.

With Files from CP

Interact with The Globe