Do Bears Live in the Woods? - Bear to be Trapped After Jogger Attacked

CALGARY -- The Belgian woman injured by a bear near Lake Louise had encountered or been surprised by bruins on the same stretch of roadway on previous occasions.

In a blog written 11 months ago during her first stay in the Rockies, Charisse D'hamers described a section of the 1A Highway closed to vehicular traffic as a place frequented by bears.

The old roadway is a place, she wrote, for "a good exercise and a pretty high chance of seeing bears, which is less attractive if you're running alone."

During one of her outings in August, 2007, D'hamers noted she saw two black bears "and on another run a couple of days later I even saw a mama bear and her cub."

On Wednesday evening, D'hamers was jogging alone on the same roadway when she was surprised by a bear again, this time by a bruin that made threatening advances and bit her about eight times on her legs and back when she played dead.

She managed to walk six kilometres back towards Lake Louise until she found a Parks Canada warden. D'hamers, 23, suffered deep puncture wounds to her legs and upper back.

Three traps have been set for the black bear that injured the Antwerp native.

No decision has been made on whether the bear will be destroyed if it's captured, said Hal Morrison, a wildlife-human conflict specialist with Parks Canada.

Morrison defended D'hamers' conduct, saying it's not always possible to jog with a partner and difficult to avoid bear habitat.