An Alberta man is recovering in hospital after a black bear he shot and injured suddenly attacked him and mauled his arm.
The man was with a group of hunters as they hunted a black bear on private land in Smoky Lake County, about 135 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
The man spotted the bear in a clearing, shot it and then followed the injured animal a couple hundred metres into the bush. As he approached the bear, it turned on him and mauled his arm.
Although his arm was badly injured, the man was able to use his other arm to aim the rifle and kill the bear, says Fish and Wildlife officer Mike Ewald.
"While the bear was attacking him, he managed to fire off another round into the bear, killing the bear," he told CTV Edmonton.
"The bear had him down and had a hold of him and he managed, with one arm, to use his rifle to shoot the bear."
Fish and Wildlife officers located a dead bear Monday morning and say they believe it was the animal involved in the attack. As they await forensic tests to ensure they have the right bear, they have set up bear traps in the area.
Ewald said the man was lucky to have survived, as the bear was large and appeared to weigh around 115 kgs (250 lbs).
The hunter was airlifted to hospital in Edmonton and has undergone surgery to repair bite wounds to his arm. He is expected to survive.
Alberta Fish and Wildlife says there has been an increase in bear encounters in northeastern Alberta this year.
In May, a Suncor employee was killed by a black bear about 25 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. Then in June, two runners out for a trail run not far from that killing were stalked for several minutes by a black bear, before finally making an escape.
