Bears, again.

CTV.ca: British Columbia woman battles with bear

A Port Moody, B.C. woman was nursing deep bite wounds on Sunday after a run-in with a black bear on her front lawn on Saturday near midnight.

Jan Lanz, 57, heard her dog barking and went outside to investigate. When she saw her dog barking at a bear going through her garbage, she picked up a garbage can.

"I whipped the can as hard as I could and hit the bear in the head," Lanz told CTV Vancouver in an interview from her bed Sunday morning.
The bear took off, and Lanz thought the incident was over.

What Lanz didn't know was that there were two bear cubs hiding in the trees of her yard. The bear hadn't left. She had circled around and returned to protect her cubs.

"I heard a sound behind me, I turned around, and all of a sudden the bear grabbed my (left) thigh in her mouth," said Lanz. "I couldn't believe what was happening -- I reacted and smacked the bear on the head."

Luckily for Lanz, the bear released her leg from its jaws, leaving 2.5-centimetre puncture wounds behind. As the animal fled, Lanz's son threw an ironing board at it before helping his mother inside.

Bear sightings are common in Port Moody, authorities said. Port Moody is part of the Greater Vancouver area, sitting at the far eastern end of Burrard Inlet. While it is a rural community set in the trees, encounters like this one are rare.

Police have determined it was not an intentional attack. The bear was attracted by garbage left behind by city crews after a collection day. Lanz said she doesn't normally leave garbage out -- and paid a high price for the oversight.

The bear and her cubs will not be hunted down or destroyed, police said.
"She got in between the mother bear and the two cubs, the dog is fighting with the two bears, and there's a lot of screaming and yelling and commotion," explained Port Moody Const. Phil Reid.

"I can just imagine that mama bear was a little concerned and took a bite of the victim," he said.

The dog also got attacked by the cubs and required some veterinary care for injuries to its nose, tail and neck.