A local conservation officer says a Squamish man is very lucky he wasn’t badly injured after a sudden encounter with a bear.

A 19-year-old man was working in his garage in Garibaldi Estates late in the evening of May 22 when he heard a strange noise outside, according to Simon Gravel, a Ministry of Environment Sea to Sky Zone conservation officer.

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The man rounded the corner of the garage to investigate the noise and came face to face with a female bear.

The man and the bear were both startled, according to Gravel, and the bear swatted at the man, cutting the man’s arm.

The conservation service is well aware of this female bear, a mother of two cubs, Gravel said.

“This bear is starting to be very, very familiar with humans,” he said, adding people have been approaching the bear and taking pictures of her with her cubs, which has habituated the bear to humans.

“When the bear swatted at him, of course the man yelled very loudly and then that sufficed to scare the bear away, so the bear left the scene,” said Gravel.

“He was very lucky and he was very shaken up, of course… It could have been a lot worse.”

The man sought medical attention, but the injury was not serious, according to Gravel.

“Minor injury, but big reminder,” he said. “As much as you can, avoid attracting bears around your house.”

The bear that the man encountered was trying to access a garbage tote, Gravel said.

“We do have locked garbage totes, but bears are investigating them to see if they are locked or not because people are still not locking them all of the time, so [bears] are investigating them.”

All garbage should be locked and secured in the garage if possible, Gravel said.

Pet food, compost and bird feeders also attract bears, he added.

The conservation service was alerted to the incident a couple of days after it had happened, on the Monday, and the Predatory Attack Team (PAT) was dispatched to the area.

“They determined that it was defensive behaviour, not necessarily a predatory behavior,” said Gravel.

“I believe the man was surprised and the bear was surprised, and in those situations, the bear will try to defend itself as well so that is where the swat came into place.”

People need to be aware of how to react when they encounter a bear, Gravel said; they should stay calm and leave the area slowly and report it to the Conservation Officer Service.

“If you encounter a bear, they are a lot stronger than us, and they can definitely injure you if they feel like you are a threat and if you surprise them. So the best thing we can do is really avoid having them around our house,” Gravel said.

Approaching the bear and taking pictures is dangerous for humans and bears, he said.

Wildlife and human encounters should be reported to the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277.