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Bruce Miller of Miller Time charters talks to the media after he and a group of men killed a bear that mauled a 52-year-old-man after swimming out to the fisherman's boat, which was docked at the Port Renfrew marina Sept. 9.
A bloody battle of man against beast on a Vancouver Island dock has left one fisherman in hospital, a bear dead and a group of quick-thinking bystanders hailed as heroes.
Bruce Miller couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a black bear attacking a fisherman aboard a powerboat at the Port Renfrew marina Tuesday evening. But the 40-year-old fishing guide sprang into action.
"I just reacted. I ran out of my boat, I grabbed my gaff -- my halibut gaff -- on my way there," he told reporters Wednesday, displaying the long hook attached to a pole used for landing large fish.
With one foot inside the boat and one foot out, Miller whacked the bear several times with the gaff, trying in vain to pull him off the victim.
"He wanted to eat that guy," Miller said. "That's all there was. He was after him, and nothing was going to stop that bear from getting what he wanted."
Eventually, several other bystanders rushed to help with gaffs, a hammer and a filleting knife.
"There was three or four of us, just kind of held that [bear] there, while we cut his throat," he said.
Miller has been a fishing guide in the area for six years and will be back on the water today, said his wife, Andrea Miller.
"It doesn't surprise me that he would do that," she said. "He's something else."
The victim, a 52-year-old Saltspring Island man, was recovering in hospital.
He was conscious and in stable condition when he was flown by air ambulance to Victoria General Hospital. He was later transferred to Royal Jubilee Hospital, where he underwent surgery. Neither his name nor his condition have been made public.
The dead bear was left in the boat until a conservation officer arrived to take it away.
"This is the first major aggressive black-bear attack causing that kind of injury on Vancouver Island," conservation officer Gord Hitchcock said from Nanaimo.
The victim was fishing with a friend aboard his powerboat and returned to the marina with a coho salmon, Hitchcock said.
The two men went to the office to clean the fish and were returning to the boat about 5 p.m. when a bear -- at least 10 years old and weighing 80 kilograms -- climbed up on the wharf after swimming the Gordon River.
The bear was about 50 metres away when the man boarded the boat.
"The bear immediately followed him and boarded the boat," Hitchcock said.
"The victim threw his fish in the general vicinity of the bear, but the bear attacked the victim in the boat."
The animal was undergoing a necropsy in Nanaimo to explore what might have led to the mauling. Initial examination showed it to be elderly and in poor health.
Mike Hicks of Sooke, who owns a fishing resort in Port Renfrew, said he's not surprised by the attack.
Three weeks ago, he called the conservation service about bears.
"We had a problem with bears walking down the pier, going down the ramp and sitting in boats looking for food," he said.
"Our patrons were shooing them out of the boats and taking pictures. It was absolutely bizarre ... and totally dangerous."
Hicks wanted the bears moved or killed, but said the conservation officer said nothing would be done unless someone was in imminent danger.
"They never did send an officer out and yesterday a bear, probably the same bear, took down this fellow," Hicks said. "The whole situation is absolutely disgusting."
But Hitchcock said conservation officers have been taking the problem seriously. He said bears are common in Port Renfrew and people there have to take responsibility with garbage and fish scraps.
"We work with marine authorities around prevention ... keeping the bears from coming in to access fish sources," he said.
"They have to manage their attractions or all we'll be doing is destroying bears out there."
The attack in Port Renfrew shocked some local residents, Fire Chief Dan Tennant said, because such attacks have "never, ever" happened in the area before.
"I always tell people in Port Renfrew the bears are more afraid of you than you are of them. I encounter [bears] almost daily and they're pretty docile," he said.
"I'm not sure what happened here."
Bruce Miller of Miller Time charters talks to the media after he and a group of men killed a bear that mauled a 52-year-old-man after swimming out to the fisherman's boat, which was docked at the Port Renfrew marina Sept. 9.
A bloody battle of man against beast on a Vancouver Island dock has left one fisherman in hospital, a bear dead and a group of quick-thinking bystanders hailed as heroes.
Bruce Miller couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a black bear attacking a fisherman aboard a powerboat at the Port Renfrew marina Tuesday evening. But the 40-year-old fishing guide sprang into action.
"I just reacted. I ran out of my boat, I grabbed my gaff -- my halibut gaff -- on my way there," he told reporters Wednesday, displaying the long hook attached to a pole used for landing large fish.
With one foot inside the boat and one foot out, Miller whacked the bear several times with the gaff, trying in vain to pull him off the victim.
"He wanted to eat that guy," Miller said. "That's all there was. He was after him, and nothing was going to stop that bear from getting what he wanted."
Eventually, several other bystanders rushed to help with gaffs, a hammer and a filleting knife.
"There was three or four of us, just kind of held that [bear] there, while we cut his throat," he said.
Miller has been a fishing guide in the area for six years and will be back on the water today, said his wife, Andrea Miller.
"It doesn't surprise me that he would do that," she said. "He's something else."
The victim, a 52-year-old Saltspring Island man, was recovering in hospital.
He was conscious and in stable condition when he was flown by air ambulance to Victoria General Hospital. He was later transferred to Royal Jubilee Hospital, where he underwent surgery. Neither his name nor his condition have been made public.
The dead bear was left in the boat until a conservation officer arrived to take it away.
"This is the first major aggressive black-bear attack causing that kind of injury on Vancouver Island," conservation officer Gord Hitchcock said from Nanaimo.
The victim was fishing with a friend aboard his powerboat and returned to the marina with a coho salmon, Hitchcock said.
The two men went to the office to clean the fish and were returning to the boat about 5 p.m. when a bear -- at least 10 years old and weighing 80 kilograms -- climbed up on the wharf after swimming the Gordon River.
The bear was about 50 metres away when the man boarded the boat.
"The bear immediately followed him and boarded the boat," Hitchcock said.
"The victim threw his fish in the general vicinity of the bear, but the bear attacked the victim in the boat."
The animal was undergoing a necropsy in Nanaimo to explore what might have led to the mauling. Initial examination showed it to be elderly and in poor health.
Mike Hicks of Sooke, who owns a fishing resort in Port Renfrew, said he's not surprised by the attack.
Three weeks ago, he called the conservation service about bears.
"We had a problem with bears walking down the pier, going down the ramp and sitting in boats looking for food," he said.
"Our patrons were shooing them out of the boats and taking pictures. It was absolutely bizarre ... and totally dangerous."
Hicks wanted the bears moved or killed, but said the conservation officer said nothing would be done unless someone was in imminent danger.
"They never did send an officer out and yesterday a bear, probably the same bear, took down this fellow," Hicks said. "The whole situation is absolutely disgusting."
But Hitchcock said conservation officers have been taking the problem seriously. He said bears are common in Port Renfrew and people there have to take responsibility with garbage and fish scraps.
"We work with marine authorities around prevention ... keeping the bears from coming in to access fish sources," he said.
"They have to manage their attractions or all we'll be doing is destroying bears out there."
The attack in Port Renfrew shocked some local residents, Fire Chief Dan Tennant said, because such attacks have "never, ever" happened in the area before.
"I always tell people in Port Renfrew the bears are more afraid of you than you are of them. I encounter [bears] almost daily and they're pretty docile," he said.
"I'm not sure what happened here."
