Two Filipinas mauled by black bear in Canada

Leosette Canoy (left) and her friend Analyn Shurtliff Bartolome were violently mauled by a black bear on Monday while walking on a trail in British Columbia. GOFUNDME

Two Filipino mothers are in critical condition after being mauled by a black bear while hiking on Oct. 3 in northeastern British Columbia.

Leosette Canoy, her friend Analyn Shurtliff Bartolome, her son and Canoy’s niece were walking on Monday on a cross-country trail on Bear Mountain,  south of Dawson Creek in the western Canadian province when the attack occurred.

Canoy has had more than six hours of surgery for the maiming she received to her arms, head, back, and ear. She is sedated and on a ventilator.

Her friend Analyn Bartolome may lose her left arm. She is at high risk of infection from the multiple lacerations on her body and her scalp.

The group “was looking for nice spots to take fall pictures with the autumn leaves,” Gary Hansen, Canoy’s husband, told told CBC News. Canoy, who arrived from the Philippines 15 years ago loves the Canadian wilderness, Hansen said.

As the group headed back home, Bartolome’s teenage son heard a noise and found himself facing a charging black bear.

He alerted the group, and as the British Columbia Parks Service advises when confronted with a predatory bear, he fought back, punching it. That didn’t stop the bear, and the boy suffered bad bruising around his ribs.

The bear then attacked Bartolome, and Canoy came to her defense, absorbing most of the injuries from the attack. The injured mothers lay on the ground as the bear circled around them.

Their companions tried to drive the bear away from them to no avail. They finally called 911. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers arrived and shot the bear dead.

Canoy was airlifted to a hospital 600 kilometers away in Edmonton, and Bartolome was flown to Vancouver and remains in critical condition at an ICU.

Encounters between bears and humans have risen in recent years in Canada due to habitat loss, but fatal attacks are still rare – one every 5 years in British Columbia, according to British Columbia Conservation Foundation.

As of Thursday afternoon,  Canoy’s fundraiser had collected over $10,000, more, and Bartolome’s had brought in more than $11,600.