COQUITLAM, British Columbia, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police credit brave neighbors for saving the life of a British Columbia woman being mauled by a black bear.
The unidentified 35-year-old woman was gardening Wednesday morning in Coquitlam, east of Vancouver, when the 250-pound bear attacked, the Globe and Mail reported.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Tony Farahbakhchian said the attack lasted about three minutes and would have been fatal had neighbors not rushed to the screaming woman's aid by throwing rocks at the bear and pushing it away with broomsticks.
"She lost a lot of blood at the scene," he said. "It was tremendous and very courageous on their part."
Farahbakhchian said the woman was in stable condition at an area hospital with one badly mauled arm and major lacerations to the back of her skull.
He said the bear was acting in a "threatening manner" when officers arrived, so it was killed in a neighbor's yard.
Not far from the mauling site Thursday morning, Mounties were called when another bear got into a basement. It was chased outside by officers and climbed a tree. After being hit with a tranquilizer dart, it was shot, CTV News reported.
