‘It had no fear’: Black bear takes a swipe at a jogger’s leg on a popular hiking trail

Video shows the moment a woman came face-to-face with a black bear while out jogging on a popular trail in Canada. 

The terrifying encounter occurred Saturday along the Coquitlam Crunch trail in British Columbia, and was filmed by passerby, Sam Abdullah. 

The 90-second clip begins with the unidentified jogger looking alarmed as she notices the bear emerge from the bushes right in front of her.  

Trying not to startle the deadly creature, the woman stands completely still as it slowly begins to approach her. 

The large bear then swipes the jogger’s leg with its front paw. 

Thankfully, the predator appears uninterested in further interacting with the woman, and she quickly manages to run away. 

Abdullah’s video captures the sheer terror on her face as she runs from the bear, unsure as to whether it is trailing behind her.  

Abdullah told CBC that he tried to help the female jogger by distracting the black bear. 

‘If you see the video, we are doing the opposite [of what] we are supposed to do. We are coming closer to the bear,’ he stated. 

‘I was trying to distract the bear by yelling because we are not running away, because there was a girl there and we waited there until we knew that she was  safe.’

Local conservation officer Murray Smith told CBC that the incident is ‘concerning’ and that they are now trying to trap the bear. 

‘It appears the bear had little or no fear of the runner,’ he stated. 

‘It wasn’t like the bear was startled by the runner and reached out and contacted them. In this case, the runner stopped, and the bear approached the runner and then the bear hit the person’s leg, so it’s very concerning.’ 

He added that there have been more than 20 reports  about a bear in the area in the past month. 

Smith says authorities are currently undecided as to whether they will euthanize the animal once it is caught.