The ever-present black bears on Vancouver's North Shore seem to be losing their fear of people, according to some residents.
Michele Foster says she watched helplessly last month as a mother bear attacked her dog Boo in the backyard of her North Vancouver home.
"I yelled at the bear to get lost, because she was chasing my dog, and it looked at me, didn't take its eyes off me, jumped down the six-foot wall and charged at me," Foster told CTV News.
She says she and the yellow lab managed to get back inside the house, sliding the patio door shut just as the bear tried to swipe a single paw through the opening.
"It got up on my door on its hind legs and then tried to slide it open," she said. "I had to lock my door."
Finally, the bear's two cubs appeared, and it left the yard. But the entire family returned a few days later, and she captured the return on video.
"I'm a nature lover, but I was just deeply, deeply traumatized by this," Foster said. Her dog was bitten in the attack, but is now OK.
She's not the only one who's had a frightening encounter with a bear on the North Shore in recent weeks. On Wednesday, conservation officers on a Mt. Seymour hiking trail shot and killed a bear they say had lost its fear of humans.
But dog-walker Valerie Van Bruegel helped scare off the bear after it followed another hiker along the trail and says the bear seemed to be curious, not aggressive.
"This guy, his immediate reaction was that he ran and of course the bear is going to chase him, and now the bear is dead. He should have stood his ground; he should have made some noise when the bear was approaching him. You do not run," she said.
Elsewhere in North Vancouver, Kathy Thompson had a slightly less frightening encounter with a bear this week when one animal decided to go for a leisurely soak in her neighbour's hot tub.
"[It] rolled around in hot tub having a great time and hung over the edge and then went into the big pool," she said.
She agrees that some local bears seem to be fearless.
"We just keep our distance," she said.
Animal experts say that bears can pose a risk when they become used to humans and habituated to eating garbage.
If you encounter a bear, the recommended response is to stop, stay calm and slowly back away.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber
