A Whitecourt, Alta. woman had an up-close and scary encounter with a trio of grizzlies on the weekend after the bruins wandered onto her property, apparently looking for food.
Marjie Whitehead posted photos and video of the encounter to Facebook on Saturday, writing that she was “so scared and freaked out.”
The bears, which appear to be three large juveniles, are mainly interested in a root cellar on the property, with one even trying to dig its way inside.
Video shows Whitehead’s dogs barking at the bears, one of which responds with a bluff charge. She can be heard frantically calling her dogs.
"Two of them are in the root cellar right now eating the dog food," she can be heard saying. "They're gonna come after the dogs. I've got to get the gun."
Whitehead wrote that firing off a pair of warning shots didn’t deter the bruins, so she called a neighbour to help.
“Thank you Sean Gurnsey for coming over to rescue me (he had to drive up over our yard in hopes of scaring them off, and that was after I fired off two shots, which they were not bothered by, but Sean's vehicle scared them somewhat, and they went away after Sean fired off two more rounds),” she wrote on social media.
Another post says the bears returned.
“They came back a couple of hours later, leaving their paw prints on the side of our house and breaking the corner trim of our siding, as well as tearing up the ground around our root cellar,” she wote.
“I've been shivery all day.”
