Bear jumps into man’s fishing boat, mauls him

Friends come to his aid at Canadian marina and kill the animal

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updated 12:20 a.m. ET Sept. 11, 2008

VICTORIA, British Columbia - A Canadian man is recovering in the hospital after a black bear swam across a river, climbed onto a dock and then jumped on a boat and attacked him.

Conservation officer Gord Hitchcock said Wednesday the 52-year-old man was fishing at a marina in a tiny coastal community off Canada's Pacific coast when the bear mauled him.

Hitchcock says people tried to help the man using hooked poles, knives and a hammer to pull the bear off of him.

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Fire Chief Dan Tennant said he's never heard of such an incident in an area where the bears are normally docile.

Tennant said the man's friends managed to kill the bear.

The unidentified man has been airlifted to a Victoria hospital, where he is recovering from cuts to his arm and upper body.