A 57-year-old Sooke man said he woke up Wednesday morning and found himself nose to nose with a young black bear, which lunged at him and flipped him “like a pancake.” Jay Vinden is recovering in hospital in Nanaimo for puncture wounds to his back, side and knee and will require plastic surgery for scalp wounds. Photograph by: Screengrab, Global News

A 57-year-old Sooke man said he woke up Wednesday morning and found himself nose to nose with a young black bear, which lunged at him and flipped him “like a pancake.”

And Jay Vinden said it was thanks to his friend, Bruce Doyle, 47, that he survived the attack, which took place during a camping trip in a remote area near Port Alberni.

Vinden said he was sleeping under a tarpaulin bivouac when the bear woke him at about 7:30 a.m.

“I rolled over, hearing a snort, and I was six inches, face-to-face with a yearling black bear,” Vinden told Global BC. “He took about two seconds to size me up and then lunged for my mid section.”

The bear attacked his knee and “flipped me over with one hand, like a pancake, and went for my hip,” he said.

His friend was asleep in a dome tent nearby, he said.

“I started to scream bloody murder because I couldn’t reach for my knife and I couldn’t roll into a ball. Bruce came out of the tent and pulled the bear off, thankfully, or I wouldn’t be here.”

Vinden said that, after Doyle distracted the bear, Vinden was able to reach his knife and “whacked him over the snout and away he went.”

Vinden told Nanaimo hospital officials he felt bad for the bruin that tried to kill him.

“[Vinden] said that he’s an experienced woodsman and unprovoked black bear attacks are quite rare, and he had some sympathy for the bear,” said Anya Nimmon, spokeswoman for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

Nimmon said that Vinden was still in emergency and was sleeping after his ordeal Wednesday afternoon.

“He has got some puncture wounds to his back and his side and his knee and he will be having some plastic surgery to his scalp,” added Nimmon. “But otherwise his spirits are high and he’s in stable condition. They’re both feeling pretty lucky.”

She said Doyle was treated and released from hospital in Port Alberni.

Port Alberni RCMP Sgt. Kevin Murray said the two men were camping in an area known as Taylor Flats at the west end of Sproat Lake.

Murray said both men had been in the area for a number of days and had encountered the 68-kilogram bear in and around their camp on the first day.

RCMP and B.C. conservation officers were attempting to find the bear and determine if it was a threat to the public, he said.

“Police and Conservation want to remind people visiting the back country to be extra vigilant in protecting themselves and their camp from wildlife encounters,” said Murray.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said last night it was trying to locate the bear “to determine the motive and trigger for attack. It appears that the bear behaviour was predatory and non-defensive. If the bear is located, it will be assessed and likely put down to ensure no further attacks [or] injuries.”