A Canadian mother who survived a grizzly bear attack says her family inspired her to want to live. Vanessa Chaput described the evening she went jogging with her dog in an area she is familiar with in Yukon. The paved trail runs alongside a highway and is close to a residential neighborhood, but when she turned a corner, she came face to face with a terrifying sight – a group of four grizzly bears.
The group comprised two young bears, a smaller adult, and a large male. Chaput’s dog Luna barked, and the younger and smaller bears fled the scene, leaving the 24-year-old mom face to face with the large male, who charged directly at her. Ms. Chaput tried to hide behind a nearby tree but soon faced a nightmare – the bear took her head in its mouth and shook her “like a rag doll.”
Chaput went on to describe the adrenaline she felt, which meant she experienced no physical pain despite the bear’s teeth piercing her face. When the animal wrapped his arms around her body, it began biting her legs, her arms, and close to her spine. At that point, she thought the bear might kill her, and thoughts of her family ran through her mind. “I’m not ready to leave my daughter and my husband,” she thought, adding that she then “went into survival mode.”
Remarkably, that was the moment the bear suddenly stopped the attack, which she attributed to the hair clip she was wearing. However, the story did not end there.
“He charged across the path and turned around and came back at me. I didn’t think I could handle another round,” she said. Luna, a German Shepherd, interrupted the new assault and scared the bear away before Chupan made her way, bloodied and beaten, to a nearby highway to seek help. The young mom then spent ten days in hospital, receiving more than 30 stitches to her head, arm, ear, and back. She also had a broken arm and lost a significant amount of blood but is expected to make a full recovery.
Speaking to reporters, Chupan attributed her survival to her dog, adrenaline, and hair clip. “My saving grace is from Walmart,” she said, holding up the palm-sized plastic clip she wore during the attack. The clip broke in the bear’s mouth, and she believes that caused the animal to back away, confused.
Kim Titchener, president of Bear Safety & More, said people in the area must better inform themselves on how to react when running or jogging through bear territory. “Just letting out whoops and hollers so that if a bear is ahead of you on the trail, they hear that,” she said.
Titchener also said bear attacks are increasing in Canada as environmental change brings humans closer to their habitat. Data from the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative indicates there were 109 attacks between 1960 and 2014. In 2022, there were 26 attacks, signifying a significant increase.
