Bear chase, raccoon attack happen during 'busy time' of animal run-ins

A raccoon attack. A bear that gives chase. Something rummaging through the green bin in the night.

There's no shortage of reports about animals that are aggressive or unfazed by the company of humans so far in 2018, according to the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.

"It's a busy time of year," said Butch Galvez, a wildlife technician with the department. 

Galvez revealed there have been a number of reported run-ins with animals since spring took hold. The majority of them happen after the sun goes down, when bears and raccoons are after "easy food" near homes. 

"With increasing development, more green bins, more bird feeders, more people moving to wooded subdivisions, certainly the calls and the encounters are increasing," he said.

But there have been other rare and extreme examples.

Raccoons came 'charging'

Meg Doyle had finished work and was taking her 39-kilogram dog Hoffman to Ravenscraig Field near Williams Lake in Halifax just before 10 p.m. on May 30. 

She said they were having a "grand old time" playing with a glow-in-the-dark ball when she heard noises coming from one area of the field.

"Two raccoons began charging down the hill towards us," she said. "At first, I thought they were two dogs that their owner had left off the leash to come join us on the field."

Hoffman scared one away and snatched another in its mouth, Doyle said. When she grabbed his collar, Hoffman released the raccoon, which then chomped down on her leg. 

"It just grabbed to the first thing that it could," she said, adding that she struggled for about 15 seconds to get it off. 

"It was hanging on for dear life.… It was shaking on my leg how the dog shakes their toys when they're super happy. It was not letting go." 

Doyle said she immediately went to the emergency room and then took Hoffman to the emergency veterinarian.

Hoffman was given a shot, but the flurry of medical help for Doyle included getting tetanus, rabies and immunoglobulin shots, along with a course of antibiotics. 

Doyle is warning pet owners to stay vigilant when going for walks, even in the city.

The Natural Resources Department gets a couple of reports every year about raccoons biting people, said Mike Boudreau, a wildlife biologist with the department.

Unlike Doyle's case, the victims usually have put themselves in harm's way, he said.

"If they are injured and you attempt to pick them up, they are still going to defend themselves. They will bite."

Unprovoked attacks can happen, but they are extremely rare, Boudreau said.

"Seven or eight years ago, there was a young girl who was bitten when she was sleeping. A raccoon made its way into the house. I believe there was a window left open."  

Girl climbs tree to escape bear

On May 27, the volunteer fire department in North River, N.S., helped a young girl out of a tree she had climbed to get away from a bear that was chasing her in a wooded area of Colchester County.

She called 911 after climbing the tree, according to John MacKay, second deputy chief of the North River Volunteer Fire Department. 

After making a racket with their sirens and trucks, MacKay said a crew went "hollering" through the woods looking for her exact location.

"There was definitely tracks there, fresh tracks. You could see it in the ditch where the bear had passed through," he told CBC News this week. 

The girl had only a few scratches from the ordeal, MacKay said.

Galvez said bear attacks in Nova Scotia are rare, as the animals usually want their own space. But if one doesn't back down, the best thing to do is to stand your ground. 

"Climbing a tree is probably not the best.… Bears can climb trees," he said. 

Coyote calls this time of year are down, Galvez said, because they're busy tending to their young and not roaming.

A growl and brief chase

James Hirtle, 54, of LaHave, was in the backyard of his home near the town's post office this past week. He was working on repairing a bird feeder that the raccoons try to use. He looked down beside him and saw a young raccoon a few feet away looking right at him. 

Hirtle said he started to walk back to the house, and the raccoon followed until a closed door separated them.

"I know better than to tangle with raccoons because I know they can be vicious, especially when they're protecting their young."

In the three years they've lived in that house, Hirtle said they've never dealt with raccoons as aggressive as that.