In Canada, search teams discovered the body of a 20-year-old woman and confirmed that she and her mother were killed in an attack that conservation officers said may have involved several grizzly bears.
Late Tuesday, British Columbia conservation officers said the two women, reported missing over the weekend, were near a trail a short distance from their home.
The discovery shook a community where, earlier this year, a grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and their teachers.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims during this tragic time,” Inspector Jeff Tire of the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service said in a video posted online. Tire later said the conservation service was investigating the possibility that more than one bear was involved in the fatal attack.
“We appreciate people’s concerns and their desire to help, but it is essential that the public stays out of the area – both because of the danger and to allow officers to do their job,” he said.
Jenny Balcarras, an art therapist, and her daughter Selah Reed were reported missing by relatives over the weekend. A family member posted about them on Facebook, then updated it after the conservation service announced the alleged attack to say their vehicle had been found at a trailhead near Bella Coola, B.C. Balcarras’ remains were found first and Reed was found a day later.
A fundraiser for Balcarras started by her family mourned a woman who had recently moved to Bella Coola, a community of about 2,100, for a new job and “to start a new chapter” in her life. She leaves behind three adult children and one grandchild.
“(Jenny) was working on building her future and had not yet had the opportunity to build savings or set aside funds to help her family with unexpected expenses like these,” wrote a relative, Mary Melissa Smith. “Tragically, no one could have predicted that his family would face such an unimaginable loss. »
The family also mourned Selah, 20, who had “her whole life ahead of her” before the attack.
“She was just beginning her journey into adulthood, which made this loss even more heartbreaking,” Smith wrote.
Both Balcarras and Reed had lived in communities in isolated and rugged parts of the province, as well as in Alaska.
The alleged attack occurred in the Snooka West Trail area, about 8 km (5 miles) east of Bella Coola on the province’s central coast.
Bella Coola, located at the end of a fjord along the province’s central coast, is a remote location, and abundant food sources mean grizzly bears are common in the area, known informally as the Great Bear Rainforest.
Grizzly bear attacks in the province are extremely rare, but last November, 11 people, some as young as nine years old, were injured when a grizzly bear emerged from the forest near 4 Mile, a community in Nuxalk, and attacked a school group during a lunch break along a hiking trail. Despite extensive searches, the bear was never found.
Samuel Schooner, elected chief of the Nuxalk Nation, said Tuesday, “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family as they learn of this tragic event. » Schooner said a trapping effort to find the bear was underway and asked the media to refrain from contacting community members.
The province’s premier-designate, Lorne Doerkson, called the news “heartbreaking” and said he was thinking of the victims’ families and the Nuxalk Nation.
“At this time of such deep grief and uncertainty, my thoughts are with all those who are suffering and all those who are supporting each other during this incredibly difficult day.”
Gn world
