A brave mom who was attacked by a grizzly bear while jogging said her 2-year-old daughter was her inspiration to survive.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Vanessa Chaput, 24, of Yukon, Canada, told TODAY.com.
On June 30, Chaput was jogging through a paved trail in between Haines Junction and Pine Lake Campground in Ontario, Canada, with her German shepherd, Luna. Chaput said she is familiar with the trail, which runs alongside a highway and is near residential homes. It was 10:30 p.m, but the sun had recently set, so when Chaput rounded a corner, she clearly saw the trouble ahead.
Chaput was face-to-face with three bears.
"I spotted the male that would attack me first ... and two smaller bears about 10 feet away from me,” she said. “There was also a fourth, smaller bear right behind me, which I didn’t see.”
Chaput backed away, tugging on Luna’s short leash, but her dog, whose bark often scares away bears that wander into Chaput’s Haines Junction yard, went on the defense. Luna ripped away from Chaput and chased the two smaller bears away, leaving Chaput alone with the male bear. It’s unclear where the bear behind Chaput was at that point.
As Chaput continued walking backward, the larger bear charged in her direction.
“I picked a tree to get behind but the bear took me down ... it took my head in its mouth and I ended up on the ground,” she said.
Chaput and the bear struggled on the ground.
“You feel like a rag doll and there’s nothing you can do,” she said, adding, “I remember being thrown around.”
Chaput said she didn’t scream or feel a specific sensation of pain.
“My adrenaline was going ... there was an insane amount of pressure,” she said. “I have a pretty [high] pain tolerance.”
The bear’s claws wrapped around Chaput’s body, piercing her skin near her spine and scratching her thighs. The bear also bit Chaput’s arm.
The mom said she thought: “I’m not ready to leave my daughter and my husband.” Chaput said she just “went into survival mode.”
According to Chaput, the approximately five-minute attack ended when the bear suddenly let go of her head and ran away. She attributes that saving grace to her hair clip exploding in the bear’s mouth or the startling snap of branches beneath her. Chaput would later feel pieces of branch lodged in her throat, which she expelled on her own.
Chaput cowered behind a tree and made herself as small and still as possible but the bear wasn’t done.
“He charged across the path ... and turned around and came back at me,” she said, adding, "I didn’t think I could handle another round.”
Chaput said that Luna’s sudden barking from a distance may have scared the bear because he slapped the ground with his paw and took off toward the sound of Luna’s barking.
“Her barking saved my life,” said Chaput. She doesn’t know why the smaller bears didn’t attack Luna, but she suspects her mighty bark scared them away.
Slowly, Chaput made her way to the Alaska Highway, where she was reunited with Luna, who was unharmed.
Chaput used her Apple Watch to call her husband, Dave Leegstra, and 911. She was hospitalized for 10 days, receiving more than 30 stitches on her head, her back, her arm and her ear. She had a broken arm, which is still in a cast, and said she lost blood but did not need a transfusion.
Eight days later, Chaput reunited with her daughter. Leegstra told their daughter, “Mommy had an ow-ie.”
The Yukon Conservation Officer Services shared on its Facebook page: “Conservation officers responded to a report of a serious bear incident on the Trans Canada Trail connecting Pine Lake to Haines Junction around 10:30pm on Sunday, June 30.”
Chaput’s dog had triggered “a defensive reaction” from the bear, read the Facebook post, adding, “The bear attacked the individual resulting in significant injuries requiring medical attention. It is believed the dog also caused the bear to break off the attack providing the individual opportunity to retreat and call for help.”
The department stated that a conservation officer responded and “euthanized a bear that was present at the exact location of the attack. The officer received follow-up information that multiple bears were involved. In the interest of public safety, the nearby campground was evacuated and closed.”
According to the post, “Three additional bears matching the description were located in the area and two were euthanized. Efforts are still being made to recover the fourth bear.”
Officials are conducting necropsies on the bears, which have “a mixed composition of ages and sexes.”
As the post stated: “DNA samples from the bears as well as forensic samples from the scene will be provided to a lab in Alberta to help identify the bear that attacked the person. The necropsy and tests will help confirm group dynamics between the bears and whether they are related, in breeding condition and other genetic factors.”
The government of Yukon referred TODAY.com to a tip sheet on how to behave around bears, including when bears are aware — and unaware — of the presence of humans, stating, “Bear encounters rarely result in an attack. Remaining calm is the most important thing to do.”
Chaput is not ready to hit the running trail again, but she recently revisited the scene of the attack with an armed conservation officer and her family — including Luna — to help sort her emotions about the attack.
“I am very shocked at how lucky I am,” Chaput said. “I’m extremely thankful that God was watching over me that day.”
