{"id":398334,"date":"2025-11-23T03:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/398334\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T03:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:56:12","slug":"search-continues-for-three-grizzly-bears-after-students-teachers-attacked-in-b-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/398334\/","title":{"rendered":"Search continues for three grizzly bears after students, teachers attacked in B.C."},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A Grizzly bear searches for food as he fishes in Khutze Inlet near Princess Royal Island, B.C.JONATHAN HAYWARD\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The search for a Grizzly bear \u2013 and possibly her two cubs \u2013 believed to be responsible for a shocking attack on a school group in this central coast community expanded on Saturday, with a predator attack response team on the ground and an RCMP helicopter searching for heat signatures in the dense forest.<\/p>\n

Four people \u2013 a teacher and three young students \u2013 were airlifted to hospital Thursday after the attack. They were among a school group of Grades 4 and 5 students. In all, 11 were injured. Bear behavourists say the attack on such a large group is exceptionally rare.<\/p>\n

Residents in the Nuxalk First Nation community of Four Mile, where the attack occurred, have been asked to remain indoors, or to use transportation services to avoid walking outdoors while the bear or bears responsible for the attack are still unaccounted for. Local trails have been closed with pink flagging tape to keep the search area clear.<\/p>\n

Earlier: Grizzly bear attacks schoolchildren and teachers in Bella Coola, B.C., two in critical condition<\/a><\/p>\n

Nuxalk Chief Councillor Samuel Schooner, speaking at a news conference Saturday, pleaded with locals to leave the bear search to the Conservation Officer Service, or COS, team. \u201cWe know that people want to try to help,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t need any other people in the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sgt. Jeff Tyre of the CSO said, based on witness statements, that they believe the bear that attacked the group was a mother grizzly with her two cubs. The search team is setting snares and live traps but so far no animals have been caught, he said. Any bears that are trapped will be tested against DNA evidence to determine if they were involved. If they are not a DNA match, they will be relocated. He said surveillance shows there are still many grizzlies in the area.<\/p>\n

The valley bottom along the Bella Coola river is difficult terrain for a search, especially in the winter rains, and officers are in the field around the clock.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Tyre cautioned that trapping the bears may take some time. \u201cThe bears don\u2019t necessarily cooperate, but we\u2019re doing everything we can, working with the RCMP and the Nation,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is, speaking from experience, probably the most dangerous thing that conservation officers do, especially dealing with family units with sows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group of about 20 students was on a field trip and had just stopped for lunch when a bear emerged from the woods and attacked. Teachers used bear spray and bear bangers to fight the animal.<\/p>\n

Chief Schooner said the four individuals who were seriously injured are showing signs of improvement, \u201cbut it\u2019s going to be a long road to recovery, not only physically but mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nuxalk community is reeling from the highly unusual attack, he added. \u201cFor thousands of years we have lived side by side in harmony,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is bear country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A Grizzly bear searches for food as he fishes in Khutze Inlet near…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":398335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-398334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}