A determined black bear continually tried to get into a tent where two sleeping women and their four dogs were camping this past July in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. The women, Maggie Basset and Shonna Dehl, were shaken up but unharmed after their yelling and gunshots near the bear finally forced it away.

Basset and Dehl of course were shocked when the bear first tried to get into the tent. They yelled, fired their guns and their dogs were barking. Nothing worked. The bear continued to try to get them from different angles. After more yelling and gunshots, it eventually left. They hid in their vehicle, honking the horn to deter the bear before driving away to Dehl’s family cabin hours away.

After they departed the bear destroyed their tents. The women had followed recommended practices for being in bear country including bear-proof containers for food. However, bears with knowledge of campgrounds can return, especially if they have found food there in the past. Conditioning can create dangerous situations even if campers, hunters or others are doing all “the right things.”

Bear attacks have been reported more frequently this summer in northwest Canada. Earlier this summer in two separate rural Saskatchewan attacks, black bears killed a man working on a uranium exploration site and an elderly couple camping at a popular lake. Officials said a 27-year-old man from India working in the Athabasca Basin was killed in May by a black bear. In July, a couple from Regina at McTavish Lake, a fly-in fishing destination, were killed in a black bear attack.

In early August, a 3-year-old girl was attacked on her family home’s back deck by an adult black bear. She survived the attack. Grizzly bears attacked an elderly woman hiking in southwestern B.C. and another man, also both in early August. Both survived the attacks but sustained injuries. The woman encountered a sow with cubs, while the man surprised a bear at close range.