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The couple and dog mauled and killed by a grizzly bear in the backcountry of Banff National Park late last week did everything right, Parks Canada says.
They had the appropriate permits.
They had bear spray.
They’d hung their food properly.
They were staying in a location where there were no active bear warnings or area closures.
“This incident is a tragedy, and our sincere condolences go out to the families of the victims,” Parks Canada said in a release issued on Tuesday.
Parks Canada received an alert indicating a bear attack from a GPS device in the Red Deer River Valley around 8 p.m. on Friday.
Due to poor weather conditions, a response team was forced to travel by foot to the site.
When they arrived, around 1 a.m. on Saturday, they found a husband, wife and dog had been killed.
A grizzly bear displaying aggressive behaviour was found in the area and was euthanized by Parks Canada for public safety reasons.
The area of the attack was closed as a precaution.
“The bear was not collared or tagged and was not previously known to Parks Canada staff,” Parks Canada said on Tuesday.
“Parks Canada does not believe another bear was involved at this time. However, out of an abundance of caution an area closure has been put in place until further notice.”
A necropsy on the bear Parks Canada put down revealed it to be female, possibly more than 25 years old and in fair body condition but with poor teeth and less-than-normal body fat.
Further testing will be done to confirm it is the bear responsible for the attack.
Parks Canada says it’s impossible to know what exactly happened leading up to the attack and it does not care to speculate.
“The incident happened in a remote wilderness location and there were no witnesses,” Parks Canada said.
Parks Canada does say, however, that what happened on Friday night is very rare.
“Bear attacks are rare occurrences. Fatal bear attacks are even less frequent,” Parks Canada said.
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