A three-year-old girl was airlifted to a hospital with non-life-altering injuries following an attack by an adult black bear in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, on Sunday morning. The incident occurred while the child was playing on a back deck at a residence. A parent successfully chased the bear away from the child.
Responding officers observed the animal's aggression firsthand. According to a release posted late Sunday by the Maple Ridge Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the bear subsequently "returned to the residence and the immediate area multiple times, showing a high degree of interest in the location." In response to this continued threat, officers made the decision to discharge a firearm. The bear was struck but managed to flee into a nearby wooded area, and as of reports, has not been recovered.
A necropsy of another bear in the area confirmed the offending animal is still at large. Residents are advised to stay indoors as officers, now joined by a British Columbia Conservation Officer Service predator attack team, continue their search for the wounded bear. The three-year-old victim was airlifted to the hospital with injuries described by police as non-life-altering.
Maple Ridge, a city of approximately 100,000 residents near Vancouver, frequently experiences black bear sightings due to its forested habitat. The city enforces a Wildlife and Vector Control Bylaw, mandating strategies like garbage can restrictions, timely fruit harvesting, and secure beehives, with daily fines from $100 to $500 for violations. The city's website notes that abundant food has led to a population explosion of black bears locally, though grizzly populations have declined with human occupation.
This incident occurred on the same Sunday as another bear attack near Pemberton, three hours away, involving a male hiker and a grizzly bear who sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators determined it was a surprise encounter, with no ongoing threat to backcountry users, thus no tracking of that bear. Warning signage is being installed in the Pemberton area. British Columbia's black bear population is estimated between 120,000 and 160,000, about a quarter of Canada's total, though this figure relies on 2001 statistics, prompting calls for updated research amid concerns over old-growth forest development. Annual government logs recorded a 15-year low of 240 black bear deaths or euthanizations (excluding hunting) in B.C. for 2025, with 178 for public safety reasons. For the first half of 2026, 73 black bears have been killed by officials for similar safety concerns.
