Bear attack survivor says he's being harassed for killing animal

A Cariboo, B.C., man who survived a bear attack two weeks ago says he has since been facing a different sort of attack — from animal lovers.

Jim West, 45, needed 60 stitches on his head and body as a result of the Oct. 4 attack by a black bear.

West inadvertently came between a mother bear and her two cubs while taking a morning walk with his two dogs near 70 Mile House, about halfway between Kamloops and Williams Lake.

The bear knocked West to the ground and mauled him. The injured man managed to roll over and pick up a thick stick, which he used to fight off the bear.

"I swung my piece of wood like a sledgehammer driving spikes, and I kept swinging till she was lying flat on the ground and there was blood coming out of her nose," West said.

The bear died, and her cubs were later euthanized by conservation officers.

West said Monday that he began receiving harassing phone calls shortly after the media reported on his story.

He said some people even impersonated him, sending e-mails to local media under his name.

West believes the harassment likely came from animal lovers who opposed the killing of the bear and the cubs.

"I think a lot of people who live in the Vancouver area … don't really have much knowledge or understanding of the wild," West said.

"I'm talking about back-country bush, where there's nothing between you and death."

West hasn't filed a report with the police, saying he wants to focus on recovering from his injuries.