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Overnight Search Intensifies for Sow and Cubs After Bella Coola School Attack

Authorities use DNA forensics alongside thermal imaging to identify the specific bears from a large local population.

Overview

  • Conservation officers are rotating teams through the night, with an RCMP aircraft using thermal imaging and multiple live traps, snares and camera traps deployed in the valley.
  • The search has been tightened to a few kilometres around the 4 Mile area where the attack occurred, and no implicated bears have been captured.
  • Officials urge the public to stay out of the woods and not join search efforts, and residents have been asked to avoid the 4 Mile subdivision and remain indoors.
  • Any bears caught will be evaluated with wildlife biologists and the provincial veterinarian to confirm involvement, and non-implicated animals will be relocated.
  • Three students and a teacher were hospitalized and 11 people were injured overall, teachers used bear spray and bangers to drive the bear off, and a Nuxalk Nation GoFundMe has raised nearly $40,000.