Noisy parties, stray dogs and the occasional wildlife intrusion by bats, gophers or a raccoon here and there sum up most of the inconveniences where I live.
(Sigh). That’s probably why I’ve gotten so soft, at least compared to this story from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Bear crashes hockey game, mom saves kids
By Paul Waldie
Toronto Globe and MailIVUJIVIK, Quebec — Lydia Angyiou’s kids sure won’t be giving her much trouble any more, now that they’ve seen her wrestle a 700-pound polar bear.
Angyiou lives in Ivujivik, a village of 300 people on the shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec.
One Wednesday evening earlier this month, Angyiou was walking near the village community center with her two sons when a group of children playing street hockey nearby started shouting and pointing frantically.
Angyiou, 41, turned around and saw a polar bear sizing up her 7-year-old son.
She told the children to run and raced around to get between the bear and her son. Then she started kicking and punching the animal, according to police reports.
In a flash, the bear swatted her in the face and she fell on her back. With the bear on top of her, Angyiou began kicking her legs in a bicycle-pedaling motion. She was swatted once more and rolled over, but the bear moved toward her again.
Siqualuk Ainalik heard the commotion and came rushing over. Seeing Angyiou wrestling with the bear, he ran to his brother’s home, grabbed a rifle and headed back to the street. He fired a few warning shots.
The sound diverted the bear’s attention from Angyiou just long enough for him to aim and fire again. According to police, Ainalik fired four shots into the bear before it finally died.
…
“I’ve been here 24 years and I’ve never seen this before,” said Larry Hubert, a regional captain with the police force who arrived on the scene just after the bear was shot. “For sure, she saved the kids’ lives.”
Hubert has known Angyiou for 15 years and he can’t believe she took on a bear. He said the bear measured eight feet in length and weighed at least 700 pounds.
Angyiou “is about 5-foot-nothing and 90 pounds on a wet day,” Hubert said with a laugh. “She’s pretty quiet. I’m surprised she went and did this.
Angyiou (who suffered only some scratches and a black eye) and Ainalik can join our Neighborhood Watch program any time.
HT: Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog.
Wow! It’s surprising enough that anybody would take on a bear, but a French-speaking Canadian? My paradigm is confused.
Not only a French speaking Canadian, but a French speaking Canadian far from the tentacles of Montreal and Quebec.
More of the stock of the fur traders and trappers and loggers vs. the Francois intelligentsia…
Moms rock.