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Bear wanders onto Banff rugby field during practice

bear on rugby field

Bear 148—the same bear that recently chased a group of hikers —made another appearance on Tuesday when she attempted to join the Banff Bears’ rugby practice.

“I was just walking out leaving early to get to the men’s practice,” Lee Garrett told the Calgary Herald. “This lady then pulls up in her car beside me and says ‘There is a bear heading straight towards you.’ I’m thinking it’s down the road somewhere…but I look and it’s literally jogging straight at me.”

This six-and-a-half-year-old grizzly was supposedly chasing elk along a nearby river, but veered off to the rugby pitch when she was unsuccessful.

“As I got to my car I yelled back at all the high school kids and people started screaming and the coaches were yelling ‘calm down, calm down’ and got them together,” said Garrett, who then stopped to snap this compelling  photo.

The coaches and teachers kept the students in a large group, but the grizzly eventually lost interest and moved on.