What could be scarier than having a bear charge at you, you shoot it – and then it keeps charging!
What could be stranger than having your wife video it – and continue to film even as it looks like you might be mauled to death?
Both implausible scenarios played out in real life recently in Canada.
“Shocking footage shows Lawrence Michalchuk encountering the mother bear and her three cubs after the group wandered onto his Bella Coola, British Columbia, property,” reported The Daily Mail.”He had just returned home with his wife after visiting in-laws in the city, according to the video’s caption.”
Michalchuk fired two warning shots, trying to get the bears to leave. After that, the bear is seen running directly toward Michalchuk, as his wife panics.
Yet, she never stops filming.
When Michalchuk shoots the bear in the leg, it stumbles and topples over for a moment as he flees – but then gets right back up and continues to charge.
You see the bear chase Michalchuk, then the view becomes obstructed.
Thankfully, Michalchuck escaped unscathed.
While it was his proper use of firearms that helped save his life, maybe when seeing such animals in the wild, it would be better to let professionals take care of the situation? It’s not hard to imagine gun advocates whether in Canada, the United States or elsewhere – particularly those with game and hunting experience – would agree with this statement.
And… Still…
What could have been going through the wife’s mind as she continued to film this?
“It’s basically just to shoot in the air to make noise to scare them away,” Michalchuck told CTV. “They fled but the man then went outside and yelled at the mother grizzly in an effort to ‘keep her moving.”
“As soon as I did that she just put her ears down and head back and came [at me] full blast,” he said.
Mr. Michalchuck and his wife were very lucky.
This could have turned out a lot worse.