The two people who died after being attacked by a bear in Banff National Park last weekend had taken precautions to avoid such an incident.
• Also read: Two people were killed by a bear in Banff
Parks Canada announced this in a press release issued on Tuesday regarding the event, which occurred on the night of Friday to Saturday.
“Two cans of bear spray were found on site and their food was hung accordingly,” it said.
The two people, whose identities were not released, had permission to be at the site where they were attacked. This is a place in the park where traffic is permitted.
They were traveling with a dog that was also killed by the bear.
When they arrived at the scene on the night of the tragedy, Parks Canada intervention team officers shot and killed an aggressive grizzly bear that attempted to charge toward them, believing it to be the only animal involved in the incident.
An autopsy was performed on the bear. It turned out that it was a non-lactating female, over 25 years old, and had a lower fat content for this time of year.
“Samples of its DNA were sent to the laboratory to confirm that it was indeed the animal responsible for the attack,” the press release said.
Parks Canada also announces that no further details regarding this incident will be released.
“We will never know the full details of what led to the attack and we will not speculate about it,” the government agency added. The incident occurred in a remote location and no one witnessed it.”
Although there are probably no other dangerous bears in this area of the park, it has been closed to the public indefinitely as a precaution.