Canada
Officials say the can of bear spray was emptied before the attack in Banff National Park that killed Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62
The final text message contained just three words: “Bear attack bad.”
Sent from a satellite device to family members and rescue teams, it signaled that a fall camping trip in Banff National Park had gone terribly wrong.
A Parks Canada rescue team arrived on scene early Saturday morning to find that two people and their dog had been killed – the first fatal encounter with a grizzly bear in the park in nearly half a century. Family members have since identified the victims as Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62. Her border collie was named Tris.
Two people and their dog were killed in a rare grizzly bear attack in a Canadian national park
Inglis and Gusse met as students at the University of Alberta and worked together in a lab for Agriculture Canada in the prairie town of Lethbridge. But they shared a deep love of nature and traversed the wild landscapes of Waterton and Banff National Parks. Last week, the two were on a week-long hike near the Red Deer River Valley, northeast of Banff, when disaster struck.
Colin Inglis, Doug’s uncle, told The Canadian Press that the couple sent him a text message at 4:52 p.m. Friday telling him they were late but were at the camp.
They probably ate dinner, made sure their food was hung at a safe distance, and retreated to their tent to read—a familiar routine.
Just hours later, Colin Inglis received a call from Garmin, the company that operates the satellite device used by the couple, telling him that an SOS had been activated. They read him the message.
“’Bear attack bad’ means bad things,” Inglis said. “Something is probably happening right now that is frightening.”
Parks Canada also received a warning and immediately deployed its wildlife attack response team, an armed unit trained to deal with worst-case scenarios. Poor weather conditions in the mountains prevented the team from using a helicopter. Under the cover of darkness, the team moved through the valley on foot. They arrived at the scene of the emergency call after midnight and found two people and their dog dead.
As they searched the area, the team was attacked by a grizzly. The bear was shot.
A subsequent autopsy revealed a female bear at the end of her life, almost 25 years old. Her teeth were in poor condition and her fat reserves were lower than normal. The couple’s food supply was safely hung some distance from their tent.
While the response team is trained in wildlife attack scene investigation and forensics, Parks Canada says it is not speculating about the cause of the attack. “The incident occurred in a remote wilderness location and there were no witnesses,” the agency said.
The couple, veterans of the Canadian backcountry, were well prepared for the week-long trip.
“But bears are unpredictable,” said Colin Inglis. “It’s a rogue bear. This is something unusual that happened.”
The family believes the couple was in their tent, probably reading, at the time of the attack. Tris, her seven-year-old dog, would have snuggled up next to her.
The Parks Canada team discovered that the tent with e-readers inside had been crushed. But the couple was found outside the tent; no one wore boots.
At least one canister of bear spray had been emptied and there was evidence of attempts to scare the bear away.
“There was a fight, and the fight didn’t stay in one place. But in the end both bodies were back together,” said Colin Inglis. “They were reconnected. That was them. They were always together in life.”
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