Sam Abdullah was hiking along the Coquitlam Crunch trail in British Columbia, Canada when he spotted a black bear emerge out of the bushes. As he whipped out his phone to film the bear, he also noticed a woman jogging down the trail and yelled to her to warn her.
“I started filming when a girl was running down and ended up in front of the bear. We started yelling and coming closer to the bear to distract him,” The Sun reported Sam saying.
Not realizing what was going on until she runs right up on the bear, she stops dead in her tracks about eight feet away from it. To not make any sudden movement, she decides to just stand there as the bear curiously walks towards her and takes a swipe at her leg.
The woman pulls her leg away, which spooks the bear, and it jumps back away from her as well. Thinking this is her only chance to get away, she takes off running towards Sam.
She was very lucky the 600-pounds bear didn’t chase her as its predatory instincts would normally have it do. The woman got away, but the British Columbia Conservation Service had temporarily shut down the trail while officials attempted to track the bear down.
“#BCCOS has closed the upper portion of the #Coquitlam Crunch trail after a runner was swatted on the leg by a black bear,” BC CO Service wrote on Twitter.
#BCCOS has closed the upper portion of the #Coquitlam Crunch trail after a runner was swatted on the leg by a black bear. The public is urged to be vigilant, take safety precautions and asked to report any bear sightings in the area to the #RAPP line. For tips, visit @wildsafebc pic.twitter.com/4PHPqnVdX1
— BC CO Service (@_BCCOS) August 30, 2020