Whiteshell records second bear attack

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This article was published 23/07/2018 (2250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AFTER an eight-year-old girl was injured by a bear during a family camping trip in eastern Manitoba Saturday, the province is advising people to be extra cautious when trekking or tenting in the woods.

The young girl was taken to hospital after a black bear attacked her tent at a campsite on South Cross Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park, the province said Monday. She was treated for cuts to her face and was released.

The family took “many appropriate safety precautions,” including hanging a bear-proof food barrel in a tree away from the campground, the release states, but it didn’t stop the bear from swiping at the young girl’s tent early Saturday morning and hanging around until her father scared it away.

Conservation officers are searching for the bear and trying to trap it, but the animal could be difficult to locate since it was last seen swimming toward Caddy Lake, the release states.

The campsite where the attack took place was temporarily closed.

“Bears have such an acute sense of smell. For example, even using a scented shampoo, the smell, if it’s fruit-based, those scents can linger and smell like berries or food to a bear,” said Janine Stewart, a biologist with the province’s Sustainable Development department.

That means storing anything smelly away from a campsite, Stewart said — including food, garbage and dirty dish water.

She said Manitobans should also keep bear deterrent spray on hand when venturing into the wilderness.

Saturday’s bear encounter is the second in Whiteshell Provincial Park this month.

It’s an “anomaly” to have two incidents reported in such a short period of time, Stewart said.

“This type of incident is extremely rare. We have so few of these reported each year.”

The province said it’s unlikely the bear who injured the eight-year-old girl Saturday is the same one who attacked a couple hiking the Mantario Trail in the same park July 2.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @macintoshmaggie