Working in the remote wilderness north of Vancouver Island, a forestry engineer was savagely attacked by a grizzly bear, fresh out of hibernation last week.
Ryan Arsenault was attacked Wednesday afternoon and if it wasn’t for the quick actions on behalf of one of his co-workers, the young father could have lost his life. As the attack commenced, a colleague rushed to his rescue, fending the bear off with bear spray.
“His quick actions certainly saved [Arsenault’s] life,” Larry Fedorkie, vice-president of Capacity Forest Management told the Vancouver Sun.
The father of two suffered injuries to his left arm, a broken leg and a severe laceration to his head during the attack, and underwent surgery at Victoria General Hospital the following day.
Considering the incident, British Columbia’s Conservation Service is investigating the incident as it is still unclear as to what exactly provoked the attack. The province’s specialized predator attack team were dispatched to assess any additional public safety risks.
“Bears don’t typically look at humans as prey items,” Conservation Officer Scott Norris said. “They emerge hungry, obviously, any bear does … but you don’t want to jump to the conclusion that the bear’s hungry and it attacked an individual.”
Last year in the province of British Columbia there were four separate reported grizzly bear attacks and seven reported attacks in 2015. Conservation officers and biologists are continuing to monitor the area to assess the animal’s behavior.