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Being chased by a bear while walking for life
BY REBECCA MILLETTE
Tue Jul 05, 2011 15:14 ESTComments (0)
TORONTO, Ontario, July 5, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thousands of people can say that they have sacrificed their time, energy, and resources for the cause of ending abortion – but very few can say that they have risked being attacked by a bear for it. Mark Pinto is one of that elite team.
As the Canada Crossroads pro-life team continues their long trek across the country, Pinto, one of the team members, took a short break recently to recount the hardships and blessings of the walk at the Toronto Pro-Life Forum on June 24-25.
The conference, sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition, and co-sponsored by LifeSiteNews and Niagara Region Right to Life, hosted an array of speakers, including pro-life prisoner of conscience Linda Gibbons and veteran pro-life journalist and host of Sun News Networks’ show Byline, Brian Lilley.
Click here to view the short YouTube video of Pinto’s address.
“The mountains are the most terrifying place to be at night, by yourself, with animals running around,” Pinto told attendees. “I was scared.”
The walkers follow a 24-hour cycle with two shifts, walking up to 50 kilometers during the day and trying to get as much distance as possible during the night shift.
Sightings of caribou, moose, deer, foxes, and coyotes were a normal occurrence for the walkers throughout their mountain trek. “The first time I heard a coyote,” laughed Pinto, “I prayed the Rosary louder.”
But a long night shift with bear sightings turned out to be the most terrifying for the young man. “There was a bear somewhere around there, a grizzly we were told,” recalled Pinto.
Along with fellow walker, Jacinta Fox, Pinto completed a 5-kilometer trek, during which he prayed to be ready to die that night if they encountered the bear. “Our driver was supposed to pick us up at the 5 km. mark,” said Pinto, “but he fell asleep because he had been driving all week.” The pair continued walking, not realizing they had reached their destination.
“At the end of 15 kilometers on the mountain with avalanche warnings, crazy people driving up and telling us there were bears … our flashlight died and we were ready to call it quits,” said Pinto.
Finally, the walkers were found by their walk leader, Mike Hayden, said Pinto. “He had the bear following him. He had the policy of flashing his light behind just to check if there was anything following him and he said every couple of meters he would turn to look around and he saw a pair of eyes that would walk and stop and then kept going with him for about a couple km.”
lifesitenews.com/news/being-chased-by-a-bear-while-walking-for-life?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3e2d86bb68-LifeSiteNews_com_Canada_Full_Text_07_05_2011&utm_medium=email
BY REBECCA MILLETTE
Tue Jul 05, 2011 15:14 ESTComments (0)
TORONTO, Ontario, July 5, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thousands of people can say that they have sacrificed their time, energy, and resources for the cause of ending abortion – but very few can say that they have risked being attacked by a bear for it. Mark Pinto is one of that elite team.
As the Canada Crossroads pro-life team continues their long trek across the country, Pinto, one of the team members, took a short break recently to recount the hardships and blessings of the walk at the Toronto Pro-Life Forum on June 24-25.
The conference, sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition, and co-sponsored by LifeSiteNews and Niagara Region Right to Life, hosted an array of speakers, including pro-life prisoner of conscience Linda Gibbons and veteran pro-life journalist and host of Sun News Networks’ show Byline, Brian Lilley.
Click here to view the short YouTube video of Pinto’s address.
“The mountains are the most terrifying place to be at night, by yourself, with animals running around,” Pinto told attendees. “I was scared.”
The walkers follow a 24-hour cycle with two shifts, walking up to 50 kilometers during the day and trying to get as much distance as possible during the night shift.
Sightings of caribou, moose, deer, foxes, and coyotes were a normal occurrence for the walkers throughout their mountain trek. “The first time I heard a coyote,” laughed Pinto, “I prayed the Rosary louder.”
But a long night shift with bear sightings turned out to be the most terrifying for the young man. “There was a bear somewhere around there, a grizzly we were told,” recalled Pinto.
Along with fellow walker, Jacinta Fox, Pinto completed a 5-kilometer trek, during which he prayed to be ready to die that night if they encountered the bear. “Our driver was supposed to pick us up at the 5 km. mark,” said Pinto, “but he fell asleep because he had been driving all week.” The pair continued walking, not realizing they had reached their destination.
“At the end of 15 kilometers on the mountain with avalanche warnings, crazy people driving up and telling us there were bears … our flashlight died and we were ready to call it quits,” said Pinto.
Finally, the walkers were found by their walk leader, Mike Hayden, said Pinto. “He had the bear following him. He had the policy of flashing his light behind just to check if there was anything following him and he said every couple of meters he would turn to look around and he saw a pair of eyes that would walk and stop and then kept going with him for about a couple km.”
lifesitenews.com/news/being-chased-by-a-bear-while-walking-for-life?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3e2d86bb68-LifeSiteNews_com_Canada_Full_Text_07_05_2011&utm_medium=email
