'Unbelievable I survived': Yukon woman attacked by bear speaks out
CBC
Vanessa Leegstra is still recovering after a bear attack in Haines Junction, Yukon on June 30.
Speaking from hospital, she said she's still in a lot of pain.
Leegstra was on a run with her dog near the Pine Lake campground at around 10 p.m. that day when she spotted a group of bears.
"I was trying to give them space before my dog noticed, but she either saw or smelt them... and she took off towards them," she said.
Leegstra's dog was leashed, but upon seeing the bears it broke free and chased away two female bears.
"Because they're in rut right now, they're extremely aggressive and territorial, so because my dog chased away the females, it triggered a territorial aggression protecting his females, his sows," she said.
The male grizzly began charging towards her. Leegstra remembers she didn't run, didn't scream, and quickly tried to put a tree between herself and the oncoming bear.
"He ended up attacking me just prior, right in front of the tree," she said. "He grabbed my head and wrapped his paws around me. And I just remember the claws digging into my back... I could feel him biting my arm, my head.
"The only thought I had was just, 'I need to get myself away from this bear, I need to do this for my husband and daughter.'"
Leegstra's daughter is two years old.
Leegstra believes she is only alive because of a large plastic hair clip she happened to be wearing that day. She says the bear wasn't able to get a good grip on her head, and when he bit down, the clip shattered, injuring the bear's mouth.
"It let go for an instant because it didn't like that," she said.
Leegstra quickly put herself behind a tree. When she looked up, the bear was charging at her once again.
"He stopped just right in front of [the tree] and slapped the ground," she said.
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