() – Two people have died after a suspected grizzly bear attack in Canada’s Banff National Park, authorities said.
First responders were alerted to the incident around 8 p.m. Friday after receiving “an alert from an inReach/GPS device indicating a bear attack,” the national park said in a statement. release.
According to the alert, the incident occurred in the Red Deer River Valley area of the park, which is located in the Canadian Rockies.
“Parks Canada immediately mobilized a Human Wildlife Attack Response Team whose members are specially trained to respond to wildlife attacks,” Banff National Park said in the statement. “Weather conditions at the time did not allow for the use of helicopters, and the response team traveled overnight to the scene by ground.”
Responders arrived at the scene around 1 a.m. Saturday and found two people dead and a grizzly bear exhibiting aggressive behavior, the statement said.
Parks Canada staff euthanized the bear “to ensure public safety,” and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrived at the scene to assist in transporting the victims to Sundre, Alberta, about 75 kilometres northwest of Calgary, authorities said.
“This is a tragic incident and Parks Canada would like to express its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” the statement said.
The suspected fatal grizzly bear attack in Canada came just weeks after a grizzly linked to a woman’s July death near West Yellowstone was euthanized in Montana after breaking into a home through a window with a cub and making off with a bowl of dog food.
In 2020, the same bear was involved in an encounter that injured one person near Idaho’s Henrys Lake State Park, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a news release.
The male cub that was near the adult grizzly was captured and was being held in Helena at the agency’s wildlife rehabilitation center before being transferred to a zoo, officials said.
Last month, part of the Custer Gallatin National Forest near Big Sky, Montana, was closed after a person was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting, officials said.
Banff National Park, Canada’s first national park, is a popular tourist attraction, known for its picturesque turquoise waters. Parks Canada notes that the park is “home to hundreds of species, including grizzly bears, wolves, moose and more.”
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