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More common than you’d think.

• Sept. 16, 2009: Rory Chapple, of Fort St. John, British Columbia, saved his life by plunging an arrow into the neck of a grizzly bear after he tripped and the bear fell on top of him. The grizzly has not been found.

• Sept. 8, 2008: Reg MacDonald, a former MLA who sat for 16 years in the New Brunswick legislature, was riding his motorbike when a bear jumped on his bike and sent him flying through the air into a deep ditch. The 74-year-old was in a coma for 3 weeks after he was rescued.

• Sept. 10, 2008: A black bear swam across a river, climbed on a dock and then jumped on a boat to attack a man on Vancouver Island who was fishing at a marina. Friends and passersby came to the man’s aid and used gaffs (fishing spears), knives and a hammer to pull the bear away. The bear was finally killed with a gaff. The victim was airlifted to a Victoria hospital with cuts to his arm and upper body.

• Aug. 6, 2008: Neighbours pelted rocks at a black bear outside Coquitlam, B.C., as it attacked a screaming woman in her suburban driveway. After a three-minute struggle, the 115-kg bear went behind the house where it was later shot and killed by police officers. The woman was in stable condition with serious injuries on her arms and head and with bite marks all over her body, according to police.

• July 17, 2008: A Belgian tourist to Lake Louise was jogging alone on an abandoned railway northwest of the resort town when she surprised a black bear. Thirty minutes of terror ensued and she even “played dead” while a bear sank its teeth into her. She escaped the attack with only minor injuries.

• May 26, 2007: A 15-year-old was chasing her cat through a wooded area in the town of Georgina, Ontario when she ran into a black bear. She received only superficial scratches to her left forearm when she startled the bear. The two then ran in opposite directions.

• Sept. 2005 – A black bear killed Dr. Jacqueline Perry and wounded her husband Marc Jordan. The 30-year-old couple was attacked at Missinaibi Provincial Park, north of Chapleau, Ont. Jordan wounded the bear with a Swiss army knife while trying to free his wife. The bear was later shot and killed in a remote area of the park near where the attack occurred. This is just the fourth time since 1978 that a black bear has stalked and killed anyone in Ontario. The most recent attack took place in 1992.

• Sept. 2005 – A Manitoba man fends off a black bear in early September, just one week after a black bear killed another man in the province.

• August 26, 2005 – A 69-year-old man is fatally mauled by a black bear while out picking plums north of Winnipeg. It’s just the third time a black bear has killed a person in Manitoba’s history.

• June 2005 – There have also been four grizzly attacks in Alberta since June, including a fatal one on a female jogger near Canmore. Jogger Isabelle Dube, 35, a competitive mountain biker originally from Quebec, was married and had a young daughter. She was the first person killed by a bear in Alberta since 1998. Since 1992, there have been two deaths and 23 maulings by bears in Alberta.

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Venomous South American spider found in Manitoba grocery store

This venemous Brazilian wandering spider was a stowaway in a bundle of South American bananas that arrived at an IGA store in Manitoba. (Photo courtesy the Russell Banner)Staff at the IGA grocery store in Russell, Man., got a big shock this week when a live venomous spider was discovered in a shipment of bananas from South America.

The large arachnid was captured in a jar and passed on to the local high school biology teacher, Bonnie Morris, at Major Pratt School.

Her students have used the opportunity to research on the internet about the hairy, fanged spider, which is about the size of softball. The class discovered the critter was a Brazilian wandering spider.

Also known as the banana spider, it is considered lethal and aggressive. The Guinness World Records book of 2007 lists it as the world’s most venomous spider, stating they are considered to be responsible for the most human deaths due to spider bite envenomation.

They can grow to have a leg span of up to 13 cm and their body length ranges from 17 to 48 millimetres, according to Wikipedia.

They are called a wandering spider because they roam the jungle floor at night, rather than residing in a lair or web. During the day they hide in dark and moist places in or near human dwellings.

Manitoba Conservation has since taken the spider from the school.