The Anmore man injured by a mother bear visited her cubs at Langley’s Critter Care animal shelter on Sunday.
“I was the guy who got attacked by the mama bear,” Ken Hogue told staff.
“I just had to meet them.”
Hogue described his Aug. 8 encounter with the mother bear in the Countryside Village manufactured home park near Buntzen Lake to Angela Fontana, the senior animal care supervisor at Critter Care.
He told Fontana the bear swatted him once, then stood over him, so close he could feel her breath.
Then the bear walked away.
He told Fontana he thought the bear showed amazing restraint, considering that he had stumbled across her with her cubs.
The 63-year-old Hogue was treated for relatively minor injuries in hospital and released.
He and his wife tried and failed to talk the RCMP out of shooting the bear, which had been relocated once already, after eating from garbage cans.
The bear was shot and killed later that day.
“He felt very bad about it,” Fontana said.
Hogue said he plans to make a donation towards the cubs’ care.
Critter Care founder Gail Martin said it is the first time a bear attack victim has ever come to the shelter, which prepares orphaned cubs for a return to the wild.
Martin said the Anmore Triplets, as they’ve been dubbed, are making progress and will probably be returned to the wild next spring after bear hunting season is over.
Kody, Karsten, and Keeton are now sharing space with another orphaned cub their age named with Rascal.
The triplets were obviously upset on arrival, clinging to each other, refusing food and crying for their mother, Martin said.
They are now eating normally and playing together.
“They’re doing little bear things” Martin said.
“It’s nice to see.”
Critter Care has been accepting orphaned bears since 2004, rehabilitating 77 bruins so far.
To make a donation, visit http://www.crittercarewildlife.org or phone 604-530-2054.
On Sunday, Oct. 2, Critter Care will hold its third annual 5K Walk-A-Thon at Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley.
The fee is $5. To register, call Elaine at 604-530-6840 or Cathy 604-530-2350 before Sept. 24.