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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012
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Morice River fisher attacked by grizzly By Percy N. Hébert Black Press
MEMORIAL Stroll
Jackie Lieuwen /Houston Today
Bill and Evelyn Jaarsma, their son Keith and grandchildren Cade and Brielle, set out on the Helen Sullivan Memorial 5th annual Walk/Bike/Run/Stroll on Sept. 22. Thirty-five people participated in the event, raising $8,600 for the Houston Retirement Housing Society, twice as much as last year.
Park fires make for smokey skies Smoky skies in the B.C. Interior are the result of several large forest fires, including the Entiako Lake fire in the northeast corner of Tweedsmuir Park. The smoke from these fires has drifted down the coast to Bella Coola, east to Prince George and as far south as Kamloops. The Entiako Lake fire is currently estimated at 6,120 hectares. It is a “modified
response” fire, which means that the fire is being allowed to burn and expand in some areas to help restore ecosystems where no resources are at risk. However, the Wildfire Management Branch is taking care to protect any nearby values. Fire crews have safeguarded several cabins by setting up structure protection units (industrial sprinklers) and are
currently working to stop the fire’s spread toward the east. They have widened an existing road and will be burning off forest fuels between the road and the main fire to block its advance. If weather conditions remain favourable, 21 firefighters and a fire ignition specialist (burn-off supervisor) are scheduled to perform this controlled burn over the next few
days. It will be ignited from the air and by hand. Firefighting crews, aircraft and heavy equipment will be on site to ensure that the fire does not spread past the fireguards that crews have established. More information about the Entiako Lake fire is available online at: http://bcwildf i re. c a / h p r S c r i p t s / WildfireNews/OneFire. asp?ID=466
Last Tuesday evening, an angler from Anchorage, Alaska was mauled by a grizzly bear along the Morice River. The attack occurred around 7:30 p.m., 23 kilometres up the Morice River Road, as the fisher was preparing to leave the area, Supervisor for the Bulkley Stikine Zone with the Conservation Officer Service Kevin Nixon said. “It was a very serious attack,” Nixon said. “He suffered severe injuries to his face and many puncture wounds and claw wounds to the upper torso.” The 65-year-old angler, whose name has not been released pending contact with family, is lucky to have survived the attack, Nixon said. Despite the severity of his injuries, the fisher crawled approximately 300 metre back to his vehicle along the Morice River Road where he was spotted by a woman driving by who upon noticing the wounds called emergency services. The victim was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Smithers, stabilized and medevaced to Vancouver General Hospital. Based on what Nixon described as,
“difficult communication,” the angler believes he surprised a grizzly sow with at least one cub. The Conservation Office Service closed off the area where the attack occurred and searched by foot and
the attack. “It was just a whole bunch of bad luck,” Nixon said. “We’re confident it was a defensive attack, there was at least one cub, maybe two, but we’re not sure.” The area of the
by air, but didn’t locate the bear or the cub(s), although the area did have abundant signs indicating bears were in the area, including fur, scat, and claw marks on trees. Based on what the angler said and an investigation at the site, Nixon believes the angler had kneeled, behind two fallen cottonwood trees on a gravel bar, to put his gear away. The sow approached but didn’t see the angler until he stood up to leave which startled the bear and provoked
attack remains cordonned off. Such attacks are rare in the Bulkley Valley, Nixon, whose been in the area for 22 years, said. “Other than a couple of attacks around Burns Lake and a couple of minor attacks in the Hazeltons, we haven’t had an attack like this around Smithers in years,” he said. Nixon advised anyone fishing or walking along rivers to make sure they make plenty of noise and keep an eye out for bear signs.