Wildlife officials in British Columbia confirmed Tuesday that DNA testing has linked four grizzly bears to the deaths of a mother and her adult daughter near Bella Coola earlier this month. All four bears — a female and her three yearling cubs — have been killed.
The victims, Jenny Balcarras, 48, and her 20-year-old daughter, Selah Reed, were found roughly 1,490 feet apart near a trail outside the remote community, located about 620 miles north of Vancouver.
The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service says the attack appears to have been predatory in nature, a rare classification for grizzly encounters.
“Our investigation also found that this attack likely involved predatory behavior, which I can tell you is very rare,” Inspector Jeff Tyre told an online briefing. “That is to say, we don’t know how it started, but we know how it ended.”
Family members raised the alarm after Reed failed to make a routine Saturday night phone call with her sister. Search teams found Balcarras’ remains first, then located Reed’s remains in a bear cache — a site bears use to store food.
Tyre said investigators determined these four bears were not connected to a separate, earlier grizzly attack in the same area last November, when roughly 20 elementary school students and teachers were mauled. Eleven people were injured in that incident, two critically.
The new deaths have hit the Nuxalk Nation hard as the community continues recovering from last year’s attack. Local authorities put in place a voluntary curfew, and police have been escorting children to school.
“This attack has been deeply re-triggering for our community members as we continue to recover from last year’s attack,” said Tlhmtimut Samuel Schooner, the Nuxalk Nation’s elected chief councilor.
Schooner said community support services will stay in place for as long as residents need them.
Tyre said bears responsible for fatal attacks on people are not rehabilitated or relocated, since officials consider them an extreme and ongoing risk to public safety.
