Fort Simpson (Aug 04/06) -Jessie Loutit had a scary bike ride home from work on July 17 when she was chased by a mother black bear.

Loutit was biking towards Fort Simpson from the Bannockland Bed and Breakfast around 1 p.m.

Jessie Loutit: Jumped into back of truck to escape bear.

As she neared Rowe's Construction a truck pulled alongside and the female driver honked her horn and told Loutit to jump in the back.

After she was safely in the truck, the woman told Loutit that a black bear and a cub had been chasing after her.

"I was scared when I realized that," said Loutit, 17.

She hadn't seen or heard the bears behind her. Loutit hasn't gone out biking since.

Loutit's was the first serious bear incident to happen in the Fort Simpson area this season, said Carl Lafferty a renewable resources officer.

The mother and cub were about five meters away from the bike before the truck arrived, said Lafferty.

"She was very lucky someone happened along when they did," he said.

The chase may have been defensive. The two bears had been spotted earlier at the landfill where other bears may have been harassing the cub.

The mother might have been stressed, said Lafferty.

Following the chase, there was a major effort to locate the bears with the RCMP, taxis and the water truck operator.

They were asked to watch for the bears, but they haven't been seen, said Lafferty.

Loutit isn't alone in being startled by bears. On July 26 at the South Nahanni Airways compound around 7 a.m. a bear pounced on a tent with a woman sleeping inside.

The other people sleeping nearby chased the bear away, said Lafferty.

The two incidents are rare. This is the first time that Lafferty has seen such activity in Fort Simpson.

In both cases no one got a good look at the bears. If people notice distinguishing features it would help identify the bear so it can be located, said Lafferty.

So far this season 10 black bears have been destroyed around the village in locations including Wild Rose and the golf course. This number is in line with the average for the past four to five years, said Lafferty.

For their own safety people shouldn't bike or walk alone, said Lafferty, who often sees people on the back roads listening to music on iPods that drown out the noise of a truck let alone a bear.

"People walking alone in the morning are putting themselves at serious risk," he said.

On July 31 at 4 a.m., a man reported a mother and cub on the doorstep of a house near the island's airstrip.

It shows that bears come into town when it is quiet, said Lafferty.

If you are walking you should make a lot of noise.

"No one likes a surprise, especially a bear," he said.

May to September are the busiest periods for bears, said Lafferty.

Currently the nuisance bear reporting line receives calls every second day, mostly in the early morning hours. Near the end of September things generally quiet down, said Lafferty.