A black bear chasing a dog attacked a hiker in Okanagan, British Columbia.
© Wikimedia CommonsA black bear chasing a dog attacked a hiker in Okanagan, British Columbia.
Rachel Lautard was hiking on a trail in Okanagan, British Columbia, when she heard loud footsteps behind her. Quickly turning around, she saw a dog run past followed by a charging black bear.

The Greenwood, B.C., woman had picked up the pace and became separated on the trail from family and a friend. They were camping near Conkle Lake Provincial Park southeast of Kelowna.

Lautard told CBC News (warning of graphic photos in link) she believed the black bear was chasing the dog and attacked her instead.

"The next thing I know I was on my back with this bear on top of me," Lautard told CBC News. "I was wearing steel-toed work boots at the time and I was kicking and basically bicycling and screaming for help.

"He bit into my leg and he was holding on, but I was kicking as hard as I could...

"I couldn't believe this was happening to me."

Lautard didn't know how long she fought with the black bear, but it eventually let go of her after the dog returned. She thinks the dog might have distracted the bear.

"He got off, and I got up," Lautard said.

By this time, her friend, a doctor, arrived on the scene, but despite flailing their arms and screaming at it, the black bear was unwilling to leave.

Finally, the friend ran at the bear and scared it up a tree, and eventually it fled the scene, allowing the doctor to tend to Lautard's wounds.

Lautard suffered two puncture wounds and a gash on her left calf that needed 10 stitches.

Lautard told CBC News she sees bears all the time, and one even ran at her, but not with such ferocity and intensity as this one.