Bear scare in a Waterton pie shop

The pie loving blue-tagged bear
Photo courtesy of  Parks Canada

Toni Lucas

Carol Robbins is the owner of Welch's Chocolate Shop in Waterton Lakes National Park Alberta.  What should have been an average Thursday morning for her turned into the fright of her life when she encountered a bear in the store when she went to open it on the morning of September 18, 2014.

"That is an experience I truly never want to redo," said Robbins. "It gave new meaning to the word terrified. It was an a Thursday morning, about 6:30 in the morning. I was going into the pie shop to put coffee on, because the showcases were full. I just had to get coffee on to be ready by 7:00 am. I'm visually impaired, and when I opened the door, I didn't see much disarray, but I took a couple of steps in and thought, 'What is that smell?'"   Robbins said she started to make her way toward the back where the light switches are located. "I walked a few feet further, and got between the two pastry cases, and put my hand out in front of me, it is always there, because of my visual impairment. This dark object started to rise up, and my hand started to rise with the object, and there she was."

Robbins was tracking the motion with her hand, to get a better understanding of the unusual circumstances of how her day was unfolding. "I could feel the breath from her nostrils on the palm of my hand. That's how close we were."

"It was very scary," said Robbins. What may have saved her life is the bear-smart actions she took. "I could hear a little voice on my shoulder saying 'don't panic, don't look her in the eye, and back up'. So that is exactly what I did. I was backing up to the door, and she gave three 'wuffs', which bears usually do when they are confronted or are going to become aggressive."

"I got to the door, and very calmly pulled the door closed behind me. I went into my suite and proceeded to call 911, and the wardens. They were here unbelievably fast, and they took over from there."  The responders were Shawna Wilkinson, Human Wildlife Conflict and Steve Blagbrough, Visitor Safety Specialist* (both of Parks Canada) and Waterton RCMP.  "As soon as they got here, I just started to cry and shake. It wasn't what had happened, but what could have happened. She could have killed me with one swipe of her paw. That is all there is to it. I don't dwell on it, and I don't repeat it very often, because I just want to forget it."

Welch's Chocolate Shop in Waterton
Google Street View image

Robbins is very aware that she lives in an area that is shared by mankind and wildlife. "It's my fault, it is not the bear's fault. The night before, I had finished baking pies, and I am short staffed, and I had opened the window to let the pies cool." She indicated that it is a very small window. "I never gave it another thought. Of course, there is fresh pies sitting around, and I guess this little gal just sniffed them out, and she came. She has been here, on my deck, and in the park for about four years. I believe she is a four year old bear, a female, and she is a very small bear. She is probably half the size she should be. She has made herself right at home in the townsite. Had I not left that window open, she would never have have got in there."

Robbins requested of the wardens that if steps were required they relocate the bear rather than kill it. "I didn't want anything else to happen to her. They reassured me that they would look after her, and she would be fine."

"I have to say that the one lady warden, Shawna, sat with me, and was with me until I could stop crying, and stop my shaking. She was an amazing young lady, and I think she did an incredible job. All of them did an amazing job. My hat is off to them, and thank you fellas, and Shawna for all your work."

The bear was surprisingly neat for a wild animal. "She didn't do a whole lot of damage, of any kind. She knocked my cast iron soup kettle over and dented it. She helped herself to pies, and Grizzly Delights which is a big apple pastry, and cookies and scones. She had a really, really good time, but she did not do any real damage. She had a bit of a ballet, a wee bit of a ballerina."

"The little window she came in, I find it flipping amazing that she came in that window, and went back out that window. The wardens said the same thing. But we have her foot prints, and her claw marks, on the windowsill. She must have been like a slinky."

Waterton Lakes National Park Human and Wildlife Conflict Specialist Jon Stuart-Smith said "Carol was amazingly calm about the whole situation, which was great.  Encountering a bear in a small room like that is not something that people are often going to be confronted with," he said.  Stuart-Smith agreed that Robbins' calm and deliberate actions worked to diffuse rather than escalate the situation.  "Not looking the bear in the eyes, slowly backing away, but making sure you are aware of what the bear is doing, and making sure the bear knows that you are there as well is important."

"We always recommend that people carry bear spray outside in the park."

According to Stuart-Smith this particular black bear is a brown coloured three to four year old that weighed 130 pounds in 2013.  The bear was in the townsite with a cub during the  fall of 2013, was not known to have eaten any human food or to get into garbage at that time, instead eating from the local fruit trees and mountain ash trees.  She was moved to an area within the park but farther away from the townsite before she became a problem.  "Often we don't consider them a problem until they change their behavior and become food conditioned," explained  Stuart-Smith. The bear was observed getting into garbage in the Waterton Townsite within days previous to the pie shop incident.  "Normally we don't do trans-locations anymore, so we were considering destroying her." After discussions with Greg Hale, the regional wildlife biologist for the Pincher Creek and Crowsnest Pass area,  a new action was chosen.  The bear was moved.

The bear has not shown any aggressive behaviour and the 'food habitation behaviour' appeared to be new enough that they felt she could be trans-located. They chose a remote area away from human influence that the bear could be moved to in the Kananaskis area.  "She is small but not unhealthy.  She has only started to show displays of being food conditioned.  She will be far enough away from any settlements that the bear may have a chance to remain out of trouble, and forage naturally.  With no human sources of food for her, hopefully she won't get into trouble again," explained Stuart-Smith.

"We try to reduce any human attractant so we don't end up with this problem."

Stuart-Smith said that in the park itself there are bear proof garbage receptacles, and he encourages other means of reducing attractants including keeping garbage and recycling inside until they can be dealt with safely, removing berries from bushes, or mountain ash trees, cleaning away fruit such as apples from trees, and removing bird feeders. Also, "I guess closing your window at night, if you have any attractants within the building."  He said that this particular case was an unusual circumstance.

"It is an experience that is only once in a lifetime," said Carol Robbins.  "We are not doing that again. I am glad that she is safe, and okay too. I am not an overly religious person, but I think the good Lord was looking out for both of us."

"We have had Welch's Pie and Coffee Shop, and Welch's Chocolate and Candy, it will be 25 years next summer. My mom and dad started the candy stores in Banff, 54 years ago. It's a family tradition. I will be here another 25 years, God willing."

Robbins won the Chinook Country Tourist Association Southwest Service and Tourism Award for Outstanding Retail Service on October 1.  Asked about the quality of the goods she offers she said  "The bears love them too."

Related story:  Carol Robbins wins Outstanding Retail award from CCTA

* Corrected for accuracy