An Environment Yukon conservation officer says a woman who came away from a grizzly bear attack with minor injuries to her left arm, took all the right actions in dealing with the bruin.

Conservation officer Ryan Hennings said his office was called Wednesday morning about an hour after the attack by the exploration company the woman worked for. He travelled to the site east of Teslin on the helicopter her employer had chartered to get the two workers out of the area in light of the attack.

There, he learned that the woman had crossed a creek and gone up a ridge to do some work near Wolf Lake. Her dog was about 15 to 20 metres in front of her and let out a bark that indicated there was a bear.

She looked up and upon seeing how near the bear and the two cubs were immediately started unbuckling her backpack to get it over her head and hit the ground in a way that the backpack would protect her head and her positioning would protect her vital organs.

"The bear made contact before she could hit the ground,” Hennings said.

The bear was so quick, it swiped at her left arm that was out positioning the backpack.

As quick as the bear attacked, it was gone with its two cubs, Hennings said, noting the attack was clearly that of a startled animal taking a defensive stance and "removing a threat.”

"It was wrong place, wrong time,” Hennings said, noting the victim of the attack did all the right things and while she required some stitches the injuries are considered minor.

The bear and cubs were out of the area by the time Hennings arrived and with the site only accessible by aircraft, 70 to 80 kilometres from the nearest community, the decision was made not to take any action on the bear. Hennings noted the victim also requested no action be taken.

The woman and her coworker packed up their work gear from the camp and were flown to Whitehorse.

Hennings noted this incident is something that could happen anywhere with a sow and her cubs. It serves as a reminder for anyone spending time in the backcountry to take training (including Environment Yukon's bear aware course) on dealing with bear encounters and to carry bear deterrents such as bangers or bear spray.

In this case, there wouldn't have been time for the woman to use bear spray, but had the bear returned it may have been useful.

The territory's worker compensation health and safety board is investigating the incident, WCB spokesman Richard Mostyn said this morning.

It's unknown how long the investigation will take.