science

Four grizzly bears killed in Canada after mother and daughter die

Tyre said that attack, in 2025, was on a school group, also in the Bella Coola area.

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Key facts

  • In November of last year, the earlier incident injured 11 people, two of them critically. The bear responsible was never found.
  • The deaths have hit a community still recovering from a separate attack last year. Residents described the latest attack as deeply re-triggering as…
  • More than a dozen conservation officers took part in the investigation of the mother and daughter's deaths over the past week, he added.

In November of last year, the earlier incident injured 11 people, two of them critically. The bear responsible was never found.

Tyre said that attack, in 2025, was on a school group, also in the Bella Coola area. DNA testing confirmed the four bears killed after the latest deaths were not involved, he said.

The deaths have hit a community still recovering from a separate attack last year. Residents described the latest attack as deeply re-triggering as that recovery continues.

Investigators said the animals were a sow and its three offspring. Evidence from the inquiry, together with animal DNA, was analysed and conclusively tied the attack to those four bears.

More than a dozen conservation officers took part in the investigation of the mother and daughter's deaths over the past week, he added.

They worked, he said, in difficult terrain and weather.

Dig deeper

What is Bella Coola?

Bella Coola is a small community in British Columbia’s Bella Coola Valley on Canada’s central coast, in country where salmon runs and grizzly bears are part of everyday life.

Who are the conservation officers involved?

Conservation officers are provincial wildlife officers who investigate dangerous-animal incidents and, when a bear is judged a public-safety threat, may track and kill it.

Why does this matter to the community?

The deaths come as Bella Coola is still recovering from a separate November 2025 attack on a school group that injured 11 people, two critically, and whose bear was never found.

What did the DNA testing show?

Animal DNA and other evidence tied the mother and daughter’s deaths to a sow and her three offspring, and showed those four bears were not the ones behind the earlier school-group attack.

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