Conservation officers in British Columbia are still searching for a female grizzly bear and her two cubs, four days after the sow attacked a group of schoolchildren and their teachers in an “exceedingly rare” encounter that has shaken the remote Canadian community.
Eleven people, some as young as nine years old, were injured on Thursday when the bear emerged from the forest near 4 Mile, a Nuxalk community near the town Bella Coola, and attacked a school group on a lunch break alongside a walking trail. Three teachers fought the bear off: one emptied two cans of bear spray that appeared to have little effect, another jumped on the bear, pummeling it with punches. A third hit the grizzly repeatedly with her crutches before it finally fled back into the woods.
Three children were taken to a hospital following the incident, including two with critical injuries. An adult was also flown to a hospital in Vancouver. Seven others were treated in the community. The province’s environment minister, Tamara Davidson, said the teachers “took great risk” when they intervened to protect children. “They were well prepared, and they were the true heroes.”
Conservation officers say that given the size of the group, the attack was largely unprecedented in the region. Over the weekend, the province’s conservation service said it had scoured a large, cordoned-off area of the Bella Coola River valley for the female bear and her two cubs, but the rocky and densely forested landscape has offered up few clues. Sgt Jeff Tyre of the Conservation Officer Service said: “This is, speaking from experience, probably the most dangerous thing that conservation officers do, especially dealing with family units with sows.”
The BC Wildlife Federation warned that the attack reflects a broader trend in the province, citing a doubling of grizzly bear conflict calls since a 2017 ban on trophy hunting. However, the Nuxalk nation and others advocate for non-lethal management approaches, noting that human actions such as logging and climate change have disrupted bear habitats and food sources.
