Vancouver Island park closed after bear runs amok, ripping tents, getting into vehicles

Angela Fletcher and her family were sleeping in their trailer at French Beach Provincial Park this week when a bear started running amok in the campground.

“Car alarms started going off, people were screaming, some were putting their children in their trucks … it was crazy,” Fletcher, a Victorian who returned home from Ontario with her family for a vacation, said Thursday.

She said the bear went into about four campsites during the early hours of Wednesday, ripping some tents and getting into people’s vehicles.

The quiet night turned to mayhem at about 4:30 a.m. when loud screams began and people in tents started using their key fobs to set off their car alarms to scare the bear away, she said.

Others got into their vehicles and started driving around, hoping the lights would drive the bear away, said Fletcher.