The Ministry of Natural Resources has made regulatory changes so that field workers flown to remote locations can carry bear spray following a hair-raising attack on a biologist two years ago.

But while carrying bear spray is recommended, it isn't mandatory and workers could still end up in the deep bush without any means to defend themselves in a rare encounter with a predatory bruin.

The ministry conducted an internal review in August 2008 after a prolonged attack by a large male bear against veteran Thunder Bay biologist Rick Gollat during a caribou-calf survey just north of Armstrong.

Gollat, who retired this spring after 30 years with MNR, escaped being mauled after hitting the 180-kilogram bear over the head several times with large tree branches.

But Gollat, 60, said he was spooked by the bear's persistence and now carries bear spray whenever he ventures into the bush.

At the time of the attack, Gollat didn't have any bear spray - a proven bruin repellent - because MNR flight regulations made it cumbersome to bring.

MNR bear-wise program coordinator Linda Wall said Friday those regulations have been changed and any field worker who wants to be equipped with bear spray can now take it.

"I am a strong supporter of carrying bear spray," said Wall, who is based in Timmins. "All staff can carry it, but they don't have to."

MNR workers can also carry firearms into the field if they have the training and their managers approve, Wall added.

After the attack, Gollat thought the incident should be made public. He said he was told that MNR's media team would handle it, "but it never came out."

Gollat first related the riveting account this week on CBC Radio in an interview with The Chronicle-Journal's Outdoors columnist Gord Ellis.

Wall denied MNR tried to keep the story from going public, noting it was well-known among ministry staffers.

The ministry didn't put out a safety bulletin about the bear that went after Gollat because the attack occurred in an area where very few people travel to, said Wall.

Still, the fact that Gollat survived by standing his ground and not fleeing was instructive:

"Rick knew what to do," acknowledged Wall, who was once bluff-charged by a bear.

In an interview with The Chronicle-Journal, Gollat said that bear attacks are rare, and agreed that there is no sense in alarming the public.

But he wondered if something else was at play when the ministry did not alert the media about the attack on him.

"I am just surmising, but at that time there was still a lot of politics surrounding the (cancellation) of the spring bear hunt," said Gollat.

In 2005, a southern Ontario female physician was mauled to death by a black bear who came upon her camp site in the Missanabie wilderness park near Chapleau.

Wall said the ministry did go public with that incident because Missanabie is frequented by hikers and campers.

The ministry estimates Ontario's black bear population between 75,000-100,000.