In last week’s Predator Watch column, I reported on the deaths of 48-year-old Jennifer Balcarras and her 20-year-old daughter, Selah Reed, who were reported missing on Sunday, November 1. Authorities believed they had been killed by a grizzly bear while walking on a trail near their home in the Bella Coola area of British Columbia.
It’s now been established that Jennifer and Selah died in a manner so horrific that it’s hard to think of anything worse.
DNA tests confirmed that a female grizzly and her three yearling cubs, which were captured in Western Canada, fatally mauled the mother and daughter. Inspector Jeff Tyre of the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service said officers killed the four bears, rather than relocating or rehabilitating them, to protect the public from an extreme danger. Tyre provided some additional information at a press conference that put that danger into perspective: “Our investigation also found that this attack likely involved predatory behavior, which I can tell you is very rare. That is to say, we don’t know how it started, but we know how it ended.”
Jennifer’s body was found first, on a trail her brother said she and her daughter were very familiar with. Selah’s body was found about 500 feet away in a bear cache, where bears keep food.
Lana Ciarniello, a conservation scientist, explained in a CBC News interview exactly what “predatory behavior” means and how rare such behavior is.
In this case, she said, it means the victims were fed upon and cached, which is when a bear buries its kill and stays near it and lies on top of it to keep other animals away. The key point, as Tyre noted, is that the attack “turned predatory at some point.” Ciarniello called it “extremely rare” for a female with three cubs to initiate a predatory attack.
“I’ve been really racking my brain trying to think of one other instance where it was predatory in that sense, but it turned predatory,” she said.
How the bodies were discovered, combined with Ciarniello’s description of predatory behavior, makes the ending almost too much to contemplate.
Tyre said he hoped the findings would bring closure to the Bella Coola community. The area was also the scene of an attack last November on about 20 elementary school students and teachers, in which 11 were injured, two critically. CBS News described how on edge and on alert the community has been since the most recent maulings.
The latest killings have shaken the Nuxalk Nation community, which is still recovering from last year's attack. Local authorities imposed a voluntary curfew, and police escorted children to school.
"This attack has been deeply re-triggering for our community members as we continue to recover from last year's attack," said Tlhmtimut Samuel Schooner, the Nuxalk Nation's elected chief councilor.
He said community support services would remain available as long as needed.
CBC News reports that night patrols will continue, as there have been bear sightings in Bella Coola since the killings, including one downtown.
Related: Predator Watch: 5 Harrowing Wildlife Encounters in 2025
Living among bears is just a fact of life in British Columbia. A friend of mine who lives there regularly sends me videos of black bears that wander through his backyard, or even take up residence. He tells me he scans the area before he steps out the door, especially since the day he found a bear just inches from his two-year-old daughter. Now he never lets her out of his sight when she’s outside.
As a 911 dispatcher, this friend once took a call from a man being attacked by a bear. At first, all he heard was screaming, even as he asked for the caller’s name and address. Then the man said, “A bear is going to kill me.” He said he was 400 meters up a trail. My friend asked if he had bear spray or a weapon. “No,” the man answered. He then said he was done for. More screams followed, and then he asked my friend to tell his kids he loved them. My friend told him to keep screaming and protect his head, but eventually the man lost consciousness. Police arrived, and he was airlifted out. He survived, but his injuries were extensive: multiple fractures, a brain bleed, a punctured lung, and a ruptured liver. He spent months in intensive care, but he lived to see his kids again.
