FATAL TRAIL

Grim Details Emerge After Mom and Girl Killed in Bear Attack

The town is still grappling with last year’s bear attack on 20 elementary school children and teachers on a field trip.

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Canadian officials have concluded the mother and daughter killed by bears in a remote community were victims of a rare predatory attack. Investigators and wildlife officials identified four grizzly bears responsible for the attack on 48-year-old Jenny Balcarras and her 20-year-old daughter, Selah Reed, on a Bella Coola hiking trail near their home. DNA testing linked a female grizzly and her three yearling cubs to the incident, a British Columbia Conservation Officer said. The same four grizzlies were confirmed not to be involved in a separate bear attack that injured 20 elementary school students and teachers in the same area last November, which the small community is still grappling with. All four bears from this attack were killed to protect the public, and police imposed a voluntary curfew while escorting children to school. “This attack likely involved predatory behavior, which I can tell you is very rare,” Inspector Jeff Tyre told an online briefing. “We don’t know how it started, but we know how it ended.” The woman’s family reported them missing after Reed missed a routine Saturday night call with her sister. Jenny’s remains were discovered first, and later, her daughter’s were found almost 500 feet away in a bear cache, which is where bears store food.