Eaten alive by blackflies, stalked by hungry bears - a uniquely Canadian horror story
In rural Labrador, mushroom researchers nearly become the delicacy during blackfly and bear season
This radio documentary originally aired in May 2017.
When a group of five researchers were dropped into a remote part of central Labrador during blackfly and bear season, they thought they were prepared.
But their first surprise: those blackflies were really, really hungry. And there were clouds of them.
"It's like being in a mist, but that mist is looking for blood," says ecologist Michael Burzynski.
The ecologists and interpreters, dropped by plane into the Konrad Lake area for a botanical and mushroom survey, were equipped for any menace the Canadian bush had to offer. They had bug jackets, and they also had rubber bullets.
The group had been warned by Fisheries Canada that there were black bears in the area. Black bears that weren't used to people.
Bears that, in that part of Labrador, had one of the longest hibernation periods of the breed, and would be ravenous.
"The plane took off. We waved goodbye, and we started to set up the camp," recounts Burzynski. "The first thing I did was load two shotguns that we had been given by the provincial government with some slugs and some rubber bullets."
After setting up camp, the group went for a walk along the beach. Anne Marceau, an interpreter with the group (and also Burzynski's wife), continued with another colleague, Claudia, into an alder thicket.
As they walked, Anne was telling Claudia how someone had told her how bears like to hide in low, brushy areas, like the one they were currently walking through. The bears would wait until the caribou would walk by, then would jump out at them.
"So I just made this comment, and lo and behold there was a black bear that just kind of suddenly reared up at us," recounts Marceau.
I kept thinking, 'Don't run. Don't run.'- Anne Marceau
Marceau says she had always been taught that black bears are frightened of people, and that if you do see a black bear, you should just back away calmly and quietly.
But this bear was "looking for anything that looked edible, and apparently we fit the bill rather nicely," says Burzynski.
"I kept thinking, 'Don't run. Don't run, just move calmly, quietly, but steadily,'" says Marceau.
Meanwhile, Burzynski was giving them the opposite instructions, yelling at the two women to run.
The guns, loaded up with rubber bullets, had been left at camp.
However, Burzynski did have one trick up his sleeve: bear bangers, explosive devices that can be used to frighten bears. He pulled them from his bag, only to drop them in the sand.
"It felt like a nightmare where time slowed down and everything was going wrong. You're fumbling. And things aren't functioning the way that they should. There were flares, and there were explosives. They all rolled out and mixed on the ground. And there was sand in them, and you try to get the sand off... nothing seemed to be going right," remembers Burzynski.
Burzynski says he was terrified the bear would get to the women before he could fire the device.
"Finally I fired the thing off. It explodes near the bear, and the bear disappears into the bush. What an incredible relief."
But the bear wasn't going to give up a meal so easily. Just as soon as it disappeared, it popped out of the bush again, running at the women even faster.
"I shot that thing three times before Anne and Claudia reached us. And each time the bear would spend less time in the woods," says Burzynski. "It was a matter of seconds each time."
Eventually, Marceau and her colleague Claudia joined Burzynski. The bear approached within a couple hundred feet and then sat down to watch them.
"And we thought, 'This is our first couple of hours in this area. We know there are going to be bears here for the next week,' says Burzynski. "So we've really got to get this bear afraid of us. It has to leave scared of humans, otherwise we are going to be worrying about it the entire time."
So Burzynski and a colleague ran towards the bear, yelling and waving their arms. To no avail. The bear simply watched them.
Finally, Burzynski went back to camp to get the shotgun. Carefully, so as not to injure the bear, he took aim, then fired. He hit the bear with a rubber bullet, and it took flight, fleeing into the woods.
Crisis averted. But for the rest of their stay in Labrador, Burzynski and Marceau say they were always on the lookout for that bear. And they always kept a loaded shotgun handy.
A loaded shotgun and bug jackets, of course.
About the producer
This documentary was edited by Alison Cook.