Braxton Taylor
Three years ago, a female grizzly attacked and killed David Lertzman on May 4, near Waiparous Village, Alberta. This year, just one week after the elk bow hunting opener near Calgary, Carmelo Silvestro was attacked by the same bear—confirmed by DNA samples obtained by Fish and Wildlife officials.
Silvestro and his friends were hunting private land west of Madden on Sunday, September 1. The landowner warned the hunting party that a sow grizzly with cubs had been spotted in the area.
“That’s not an area where you would expect to see a grizzly,” Silvestro told Global News. With this expectation, he hadn’t brought a gun or bear spray on the trip with him. Fortunately, his hunting buddy Greg Kralka had an extra canister and passed it off to him before parting ways, a thoughtful and courteous gesture that likely ended up being lifesaving.
Silvestro let a couple of elk calls rip when he heard a series of footsteps—those of a female grizz with two subadult cubs in tow. He estimated the cubs were each about 250 pounds, but they quickly fled off at the sight of him. Meanwhile, the momma bear locked in on the hunter.
“I watched her turn her head side to side and then probably when she was about 10 yards away, locked eyes with me and in that moment, I knew something was going to happen here,” Silvestro said. “I hit the trigger of that bear spray, hitting her right in the face and muzzle, but at that point it was too late, she was already on me.”
This reaction from the bear is a large reason why so many people ask the question: pistol, bear spray, or both? when recreating in grizzly country.
“This did not stop her from hitting me so hard that I felt like I got hit by a bus,” Silvestro wrote on an Instagram post detailing the attack.
The archery hunter’s survival instincts kicked in, and he reacted the best way possible in such a terrifying situation. “She was on my back and all I could think of was ‘turtle’ and cover my vitals,” Silvestro said. “And all of a sudden she let off her hold and I remember rolling over and seeing her right there.”
Fortunately, Silvestro was able to pull the canister of bear spray and hit her with the remainder of the can in the chest. “The bear spray was finally too much for her and she released her hold of me and ran off,” he said.
The attack left the archery hunter with broken ribs and scapula, along with bites, bruises, and a series of scars on his upper body. However, the nightmares might last just as long as the physical damage.
“I see it every time before I close my eyes when I go to bed,” Silvestro said.“The way she jumped and had her paws wide open and mouth wide open at me was just like something you see in a horror movie.”
Silvestro was clear in thanking all those who helped him during the incident: “I owe my life to my hunting partner Greg Kralka and his son Tristan, who not only gave me that can of bear spray before leaving the truck that morning, but for also getting to me as fast they did and calling for help. To the landowners, EMS, RCMP, and Fish and Wildlife officers, thank you for reacting as quickly as you did and providing the top level care you did.”
Silvestro wouldn’t mind seeing the cubs relocated, but as for the cantankerous sow, “she’s a bad bear,” he said.
However, Sarah Lertzman, widow of the Calgary professor David Lertzman, who was killed by the same bear, has a different take.
“My husband died in a defensive encounter with this bear three years ago,” she said. “Please don’t blame this or any bear for the clumsy bear interface we create with our ignorance, arrogance, and apathy.”
Regardless, “fish and wildlife officers are actively working to locate the bear, including setting numerous traps and deploying low-flying aircraft,” a statement from the province said.
For now, a bear warning has been issued for the Madden area. People are urged to report any sightings of a female grizzly bear with subadult cubs in the area, specifically between Lochend Road and Highway 22, to the Report-A-Poacher hotline at 1-800-642-3200.
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