Spaghetti-stealing bear breaks up lunch, alters Israeli girl's career plans

A black bear in Manitoba's Whiteshell frightened a family before stealing their spaghetti lunch and changing the direction of a young girl's future profession.

MichalSchaapFogler, her husband Ohad andtheir three children took a day trip to Whiteshell Provincial Park earlier this month to paddle throughtheCaddy Lakerock tunnels.

The family from Israelhas lived in Winnipeg for three years SchaapFogleris a retinal surgeon who's been on a fellowship but will return to the Middle East in two weeks. They've been trying to take in as much outdoor Canadianaas possible during their stay.

They got more than they bargained for onJuly 15.

Once they had passed through the tunnels, they crossed into a shallower area and the rocky shoreline where people tend to take a break.

SchaapFogler says there were a number of other people there, some on shore and others inboats. While her husband secured the boat, she took their daughtersNurit, 11, Lilach, 9 and son Ofer, 4, ashore to eat.

SchaapFoglersat across fromLilach while the kids ate cold spaghetti, something she laughed about while recalling the day.

"It was just plain, that's what they eat," she said. "They don't like sandwiches. I didn't even cook itthere or anything. There was no smell."

That's whenSchaapFoglerglanced up at Lilach and went cold herself.

"I can't believe it," she recalled. "I see a bear just behind her, like a metre away and approaching. He came very quietly, just walking. I started telling them, 'Don't panic but we have to leave now.'"

However, Lilachdidn't hear because there was another sound in her ear:The bear was about a half-metre away and snorting just above her shoulder.

"She turns around, he's in her face, and she screams right in his face,"SchaapFoglersaid. "Then she runs the fastest I've ever seen to the boat."

Thattriggered Nurit's run whileSchaapFoglerscooped up Oferand chased after the two girls.

SchaapFogler's husband, who looked up when Lilachscreamed, quickly brought the boat close to shore for everyone to get in.

He was just screaming from the boat that he wants his spaghetti back. He wanted us to paddle back, go confront the bear and get his spaghetti back.- MichalSchaapFogler

The family paddledout and watched the bear chow down on the spaghetti before it ran off as the other people began screaming at him.

"But then he came back and ate the rest of it."SchaapFoglersaid.

The other people in the area asked whether SchaapFogler'sfamily was OK. Other than rattled, they wereunharmed, she says.

Nurit then noticed other people on the opposite shore, which is linked by the rocky landscape above the tunnel.

"She started screaming to them, 'There's a bear, get into your boat.' And like 10 seconds later he came to their spot," SchaapFoglersaid.

The family wanted to return through the tunnel but was afraid to do so because the bear was "lurking" near the entrance,SchaapFoglersaid.

"So we waited for about 20 minutes until he backed off and then we went," she said, adding it didn't occur to them to get a photo. "We we're just like, can't believe we're alive."

Well, not all of them were thinking that. Oferwas fixated on something else.

"He was just screaming from the boat that he wants his spaghetti back. He wanted us to paddle back, go confront the bear and get his spaghetti back,"SchaapFoglersaid. "He's not into sharing."

If they can move to Canada without knowing any English and go to a school here, they can overcome one bear.- MichalSchaapFogler

Nurit happened to bring her spaghetti with her when she ran from the shore. She offered it to her brother but Oferwanted none of that.

"He said 'I want mine. I want the one the bear has,'"SchaapFoglersaid.

Shedidn't report the incident to a conservation officer because she figured it wasn't anything unusual for the average Canadian.

"I thought, 'This is Canada, this is probably what happens.' I thought everybody that goes to outdoors meets a bear," she said.

"Then when I came to work and told people that story, they were like, 'No, we've never seen a bear, especially that close.'"

Six days after her family's experience,SchaapFogler heard about an eight-year-old girl who had her face scratched by a black bear at campsite not far from Caddy Lake.

The bear swiped the tent, cutting the girl's face. Thenit attempted to get the family's food barrel, which was hanging from a nearby tree.

"My guess is it's the same bear because it sounds like it, he gets too close to humans," SchaapFogler said.

She was concerned her kids would have been scarred from their incident, afraid to venture into the woods anymore. Instead, it's had the opposite effect for Lilach.

She always told the family she was going to be a doctor, but now she wants to be a veterinarian "because she wants to save animals,"SchaapFoglersaid.

Talking about the bear, Lilachtold her mom, "Hedidn't mean to [scare us]. He was just hungry.'"

It made her realize the resiliency of her children. Ironically, they had recentlybought T-shirts during a trip to Banff, Alta., showing a black bear sitting by a table asking "What's for lunch?"

"I told them, 'You probably don't want to wear those anymore.'They said, 'No, this is not going to discourage us,' and they wore them the next week when we went to another lake,"SchaapFoglersaid.

"If they can move to Canada without knowing any English and go to a school here, they can overcome one bear."

There was a deer incident, too.

On the drive to the Whiteshella deer collided with their car, which is now in the body shop for repairs.

"It wasn't a lucky day,"SchaapFoglersaid, adding that Ofer's nameinHebrew means "young deer" and thathas made herthink about changing it.

"We don't want any bears or deer in our family."