On a quiet stretch of British Columbia's central coast, near the town of Bella Coola, conservation officers have taken one grizzly bear into custody while they search for others that may share responsibility for a death that has left a community grieving a mother and her daughter. The animal's involvement is not yet known, and the answer will come slowly, through hair, blood and the patient comparison of evidence. It is a reminder of how rarely wild and human lives collide so fatally in this region, and how much care is required to determine which creature, if any, carried the harm.
Conservation officers capture first grizzly after fatal Bella Coola attack; DNA tests will determine link
A mother and her daughter were killed in the Bella Coola grizzly attack, and about 20 people from a Nuxalk Nation school were attacked by a grizzly bear last year.
Capture is confirmed. Connection to the attack is not.
Mark
One bear is in a trap. Does that mean they have the right one?
Mimi
Not yet. The service says assessments are still underway, and it hasn't said this bear was involved.
Luke
Right, and that's the key gap. Capture is confirmed. Connection to the attack is not.
Mark
How do they find out?
Mimi
DNA, physical measurements and characteristics specific to the animal. Hair, scat or saliva from the scene gives a profile to compare against.
Luke
And that comparison needs samples from live bears, which Dean Hildebrand called dangerous work. So the timeline depends on more than lab speed.
Mark
What happens to the bear afterward?
Mimi
If it's confirmed responsible, it will be killed for public safety. If not, it's released.
Mark
Is there a link to last year's attack on the school group?
Luke
Unknown. Officials said it was too early to speculate. Evidence from that incident will be tested, but nobody has said the bears are the same.
Mimi
Meanwhile, other sightings have been reported, and people are asked to avoid the Snooka West Trail area.
Le Pouls
- A single captured grizzly now sits in limbo, its fate hanging on tests that have not yet spoken.
- Officers are hunting through the wild for other bears while residents are asked to keep clear of the Snooka West Trail.
- The death of a mother and daughter has pushed a quiet corner of the coast into alarm and mourning.
- Grizzly attacks in B.C. have climbed sharply, and last year's assault on a Nuxalk school group now looms over the search.
- Evidence from both attacks is being compared, and the outcome will decide which bears live and which are destroyed.
On a quiet stretch of British Columbia's central coast, near the town of Bella Coola, conservation officers have taken one grizzly bear into custody while they search for others that may share responsibility for a death that has left a community grieving a mother and her daughter. The animal's involvement is not yet known, and the answer will come slowly, through hair, blood and the patient comparison of evidence. It is a reminder of how rarely wild and human lives collide so fatally in this region, and how much care is required to determine which creature, if any, carried the harm.
Conservation officers near Bella Coola, on British Columbia's central coast, have captured one grizzly while they search for any others tied to an attack that killed a mother and her daughter. Officials have not yet confirmed that this bear was involved, and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it will be cared for while assessments are completed. Trapping continues for other bears that may be linked to the death.
The captured animal will be examined through DNA analysis and physical measurements. A bear confirmed as responsible will be killed to protect public safety; unrelated bears will be released. Forensic experts liken the work to a crime scene investigation, in which samples from the site are matched against live animals, a dangerous task in itself.
The case is unusual for the province. Grizzly attacks in B.C. rose to eight last year, far above the one to three of earlier years, and only two people had been killed by a grizzly there in the previous two decades. The service will also test evidence from last year's attack on a school group from the Nuxalk Nation, though officials have said it is too early to know whether the same bear was involved. Residents are asked to stay away from the Snooka West Trail while the search goes on.
Conservation officers near Bella Coola, on British Columbia's central coast, have captured one grizzly bear as they search for any others that may be tied to a recent attack that killed a mother and her daughter. Whether this bear was involved is not yet known. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said in a social media post on Friday that the animal will be safely cared for while assessments are completed, and that efforts to trap other bears that may be linked to the attack are continuing.
The service typically relies on culvert traps: large tubes open at one end, with bait placed at the other. When a bear pulls at the bait, the door is triggered and closes behind it. The traps usually contain bedding and water for the animal.
The testing that follows is meant to settle the question of involvement. The service said any captured bear will be examined through DNA analysis, physical measurements and animal-specific characteristics. The outcome is already defined. A bear confirmed to be responsible will be killed to protect public safety, and bears found to be unrelated will be released.
Dean Hildebrand, a forensic DNA expert and dean of the B.C. Institute of Technology's school of computing and academic studies, explained how that work resembles a crime investigation. Samples from the attack site would likely be collected and handled much as they would at a crime scene. Hair, scat or saliva left behind could be tested to build a DNA profile of the bear that was there. But he said that is only half the task. Officers must also trap live bears and take hair or blood samples, which he described as dangerous work, and then compare those samples against the profile from the scene.
The context is unusual for the province. Grizzly attacks in B.C. rose to eight last year, up from between one and three annually in earlier years. Before the Bella Coola attack, only two people had been killed by a grizzly in B.C. over the previous two decades.
The investigation also reaches back to a separate incident in the same area last year, when a grizzly attacked a group of about 20 people from Acwsalcta school in the nearby Nuxalk Nation. The service will test evidence from that attack too. Officials said earlier that it was too early to speculate on whether the same bear was involved in both.
The service said other bear sightings have been reported near the site of the attack, and it is asking people to stay away from the Snooka West Trail area. For now, the captured bear's test results, and any further captures, will determine what the officers do next.
Citations marquantes
The bear will be safely cared for while assessments are completed.— B.C. Conservation Officer Service, social media post
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