A brave mother who was attacked by a grizzly bear while jogging has said her two-year-old daughter was the catalyst for her survival.
“I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Vanessa Chaput, 24, of Canada’s Yukon Territory, told TODAY.com.
On June 30, Chaput was jogging with his German shepherd, Luna, along a paved trail between Haines Junction and Pine Lake Campground in Ontario, Canada. Chaput said he knows the trail well, which runs along a highway and near residential areas. It was 10:30 p.m., but the sun had just set, and as he rounded a corner, Chaput had a clear vision of trouble ahead.
Chaput came face to face with three bears.
Vanessa Chaput, 24, of Yukon, Canada, was taken to hospital after recovering from a grizzly bear attack that required more than 30 stitches. Photo credit: Dave Liegstra
“I saw the male bear attacking me first, and then two smaller bears about 10 feet away from me,” she said, “and a fourth smaller bear right behind me that I couldn’t see.”
Chaput backed away, pulling on Luna’s short leash, but her dog, who often barks to scare away bears that wander into Chaput’s Haines Junction yard, became defensive. Luna got separated from Chaput and chased off two smaller bears, leaving Chaput with the male bear alone. It is unclear where the bear, who was behind Chaput at the time, was.
As Chaput continued walking backwards, a large bear came charging in her direction.
“I tried to hide behind a tree but the bear knocked me down. It had my head in its mouth and I ended up on the ground,” she said.
Chaput and the bear wrestled on the ground.
“I felt like a rag doll and I couldn’t do anything,” she said, adding, “I remember being thrown around.”
Chaput said he didn’t scream or feel any particular pain.
“The adrenaline was pumping and I felt a lot of pressure,” she said. “I was pretty [high] “Pain tolerance”
The bear’s claws wrapped around Chaput’s body, piercing the skin near his spine and scratching his thigh. The bear also bit into his arm.
“I wasn’t ready to leave my daughter and my husband behind,” the mother said. “I just went into survival mode,” Chaput said.
Chaput said the roughly five-minute attack ended when the bear suddenly let go of her head and ran away. She believes her escape was due to her hair clip exploding in the bear’s mouth or the impact of a branch breaking beneath her feet. Chaput then felt a shard of branch lodged in her throat, but was able to expel it herself.
Chaput crouched behind a tree, trying to stay as small and still as possible, but the bear wasn’t done yet.
“He came charging across the road and then turned and came at me,” she said, adding, “I didn’t think I could survive another round.”
Vanessa Chaput’s German shepherd, Luna, appears to have scared off a bear that was attacking her.
Chaput said the bear may have been startled by a sudden roar from Luna in the distance, causing the bear to slam its front paws on the ground and run toward the sound of Luna’s barking.
“Luna’s roar saved my life,” Chaput said. She doesn’t know why the smaller bears didn’t attack Luna, but she thinks her powerful roar scared them off.
Chaput slowly made his way to the Alaska Highway, where he was reunited with Luna, unharmed.
Chaput and her husband, Dave Liegstra, used their Apple Watch to call 911. She was hospitalized for 10 days and received more than 30 stitches in her head, back, arm and ear. Her arm was broken and is still in a cast. She lost blood but did not require a transfusion, she said.
Eight days later, Chaput was reunited with her daughter, who Liegstra told her, “Mommy hurt.”
The Yukon Conservation Officer Service shared on its Facebook page: “Conservation officers responded to a report of a serious bear incident on the Trans Canada Trail between Pine Lake and Haines Junction on Sunday, June 30th at approximately 10:30pm.”
The Facebook post said Chaput’s dog triggered a “defensive reaction” from the bear, adding: “The bear attacked Chaput, causing severe injuries which required medical treatment. We also believe the dog caused the bear to stop attacking, giving Chaput the opportunity to retreat and call for help.”
Conservation officers responded to the scene and “euthanized the bear at the scene of the attack. We subsequently received information that multiple bears were involved. In the interest of public safety, nearby campgrounds have been evacuated and closed.”
“Three more bears matching the description have been found in the area, two have been euthanized and efforts to rescue the fourth bear are still ongoing,” according to the post.
Authorities are conducting necropsies on the bears, which are “mixed ages and sexes.”
The post reads: “DNA samples from the bear and forensic samples from the scene will be provided to an Alberta lab to assist in identifying the bear responsible for the attack. Necropsy and testing will help determine the bears’ collective behavior, reproductive status and relatedness along with other genetic factors.”
The Yukon government shared a set of tips with TODAY.com on how to behave around bears, both when they are aware of a human’s presence and when they are unaware, saying, “encounters with bears rarely result in attacks. It is most important to remain calm.”
Chaput said he’s not ready to hit the running trail again just yet, but he recently revisited the scene with armed rangers and family members, including Luna, to try to process his emotions about the attack.
“I’m so amazed at how lucky I was,” Chaput said, “and I’m so grateful that God was watching over me that day.”
