PRINCE GEORGE — An encounter that nearly cost one hiker her life: Shauna Terai was in the McGregor Mountains area Northeast of Prince George on October 12 when she came face to face with a grizzly bear.
Shauna’s husband Chris Terai says the conditions were nearly pristine – clear blue skies, moderate temperatures, though windy. Shauna was pacing slightly ahead of Chris, walking through two sets of trees onto a patch of snow when she came within 10 feet of a grizzly bear. Their eyes locked, and the grizzly moved to reveal her two cubs.
“That’s where everything happened after that,” says Shauna. “I’m not going to get into all the details of everything that happened but after a little bit, she had grabbed me from behind and I just said to myself ‘this is it, I’m going to die,’ and then she dropped me.”
Shauna says she was able to crawl under a little tree where she was able to get to her inReach (a satellite communications device) to hit the SOS. Knowing there was no time to lose, Chris jumped in to confront the bear amid the chaos, knowing another attack could be fatal.
“I think one thing we do well is work together as a team. In this situation, Shauna saved me twice and I saved her twice,” he says. “It was dicey in a lot of cases but it was a better outcome then when you don’t take that kind of approach.”
Full story: here
I’m so glad you survived that encounter. You and Chris made the decisions you had to although I’m sure they were heartbreaking at the time. I can’t say enough about how well you handled that life threatening situation.
Linda your backup on your inreach was hiking with me when your SOS came through.
Linda managed to quickly get through to the RCMP and helped to mobilize an immediate response. I’m so glad we were able to do our bit to help
I remember seeing your story some time back on Global News and the part you mentioned about hearing a voice telling you to go and get help. I also had a voice speak to me telepathically about three seconds before I was about to have a head on collision on a highway with a truck that pulled out of a group of cars and decided to pass them all without even noticing me coming at him in the opposite lane. The voice quickly said ” get over a much as you can and everyone will pass”. With about two seconds left I moved over so that the passenger tires were well onto the shoulder. The line of cars were passing by, the truck came down the middle between the other cars an my car and as if a miracle had happened, all was well. I remember the voice was like a fatherly voice that you obayed right away. A voice of authority but a voice of love. I felt as calm as could be afterward and didn’t even mention it when I got to work. Why that day I was saved while others that may have had a similar situation weren’t is a mystery for sure.
Regards, Robert M.