A 56-year-old man is recovering in a Calgary hospital after getting mauled by a grizzly bear while hunting Sunday morning near the southern B.C. town of Fernie. 
 
 A spokesman for STARS air ambulance says a crew responded to an emergency call just before 9:30 a.m. 
 
 David Fairbanks says the man was not only attacked, but also shot by his hunting partner who was trying to neutralize the animal. 
 
 B.C.’s environment ministry says the hunting partner managed to kill the bear and was not injured in the incident. 
 
 Conservation officers and other first responders rushed to the scene. The victim was driven out of the forested area on an ATV, then flown by helicopter to a Calgary hospital. 
 
 The man was in stable condition when he was flown from the area and his injuries are described as non life-threatening. 
 
 Provincial conservation officers from Fernie and Cranbrook, B.C., are examining the scene. 
 
 Grizzly encounters near Fernie are common, particularly in the nearby Flathead Valley, where there are more than 150 of the bears – one per 15 square kilometres – according to the city’s tourism website. 
 
 Sunday’s attack comes one year after a group of hunters in Fernie were attacked by a mother grizzly bear who became defensive of her cub. In that attack, the bear bore down on one hunter, pushing him about six meters down a steep trail near the peak of Proctor Mountain. The man used his bear spray and the grizzly retreated, but then went after the other hiker. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot the bear at close range. Both men in that case were treated and released. 
 
 More recently, Calgary hunter Rick Cross was killed last month by a grizzly bear in Kananaskis Country when he came upon a female with her cub. It was ruled a defensive attack because of the cub and a freshly killed deer carcass in the area. 
 
 In May, a 59-year-old Washington state hunter was shot and killed during a bear hunt in northern B.C. 
 
 U.S. resident Shirley Cooper told the Longview Daily News that her husband, Jeff Cooper, had been hunting a grizzly bear with two guides at the time of his death. He had wounded the bear, then tracked the bear down the next morning with help from the guides. It was then that the bear charged and everyone in the party fired their guns. A lone bullet struck Cooper. 
 
 Dave Tyreman, a spokesman for North District RCMP, said at the time that police were investigating the man’s death, which happened about 112 kilometres south of Houston. 
 
 Mounties could not immediately be reached for an update on that investigation. 
 
 With files from Postmedia News and The Associated Press 

 
 
 Ryan White, CTV Calgary 
 
 
 
 
 
 An avid outdoorsman who runs a taxidermy business in Cranbrook, B.C. continues to receive treatment at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary following a Sunday morning encounter with a grizzly bear. 
 
 According to a friend of the victim, 56-year-old Wilf Lloyd, the owner of Alpine Wildlife Design, was hunting at a location south of the city of Fernie, B.C. at approximately 9:00 a.m. Saturday when he was attacked by a grizzly bear boar. 
 
 Wilf’s unidentified hunting partner fatally shot the bear but Wilf suffered a gunshot wound in the chaos. 
 
 Conservation officers transported the injured man out of the woods and STARS Air Ambulance airlifted Wilf to the Foothills Hospital. According to STARS officials, the patient was in critical condition. 
 
 Wilf suffered extensive injuries to his leg during the mauling. The Lloyd family has requested privacy at this difficult time. 
 
 While it is unknown if Wilf and his hunting partner were equipped with bear spray, Kevin Van Tighem, a published expert in animal behavior, says firing shots at a grizzly bear, as opposed to bear spray, will likely escalate the situation. 
 
 “Even if you're able to score a lethal hit on the animal as it’s coming at you, it can still complete the attack because it’s running on adrenaline,” explains Van Tighem. “On the other hand, bear spray, all it requires is a wall of spray between you and the bear. As soon as it hits the wall of spray, its attention is about getting away from that spray.”
– A hunter in British Columbia was being attacked by a grizzly bear when his hunting partner came to his rescue—only to accidentally shoot him. Despite the really bad day, it seems his injuries aren't life-threatening, the National Post reports. The 56-year-old, whose name is given as Wilf Lloyd by CTV, was hunting Sunday morning when the bear attacked, prompting his hunting partner to shoot; the partner did eventually kill the animal, though not without hitting Lloyd first. An ATV and helicopter took Lloyd—a taxidermist, CTV notes—to the hospital. An expert warns that bear spray is a better option than a gun when dealing with an attacking bear. "Even if you're able to score a lethal hit on the animal as it’s coming at you, it can still complete the attack because it’s running on adrenaline,” the expert says. “On the other hand, bear spray, all it requires is a wall of spray between you and the bear. As soon as it hits the wall of spray, its attention is about getting away from that spray."