When the rescue team finally reached the Red Deer River Valley in Banff National Park, two hikers and their dog were dead. A grizzly was still standing nearby, behaving aggressively. Parks Canada officials euthanized the bear on the spot.
The attack happened on Friday, September 29, 2023. A Garmin inReach satellite device sent an alert to Parks Canada at about 8 p.m. from a remote stretch of the valley. Bad weather kept the helicopter on the ground, so the park’s Wildlife Human Attack Response team set out on foot and got to the scene around 1 a.m.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived later and took the victims’ bodies to Sundre, Alberta.
Who they were
Parks Canada did not name the victims at first. On October 3 the CBC identified them as Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62, of Lethbridge, Alberta. Colin Inglis, Doug’s uncle, told the broadcaster the pair had been together since college and were five days into a week-long camping trip through the Canadian Rockies.
“They are a couple that loved each other and loved the outdoors,” he said. “And they were highly, highly experienced in being out back.”
The couple had been messaging him from their inReach throughout the trip. On the evening of the attack he got a note saying they were setting up camp. Later came an SOS: “Bear attack bad.” Rescuers found two empty canisters of bear spray at the campsite, he said.
An unusual bear
Kim Titchener, an Alberta human-wildlife conflict specialist, called it “highly unusual” that the grizzly was still there when responders showed up. Only about 14 percent of grizzly attacks on people turn fatal, she told reporters, and in most of those the bear leaves soon afterward. “I’m not sure what was going on there,” she said, adding that details would emerge as the investigation went on.
A necropsy found the bear was a female, roughly 25 years old, according to a Parks Canada release on October 3. Officials in Alberta have not said what set off the attack. Titchener noted that grizzlies feed heavily in October before hibernation, but she saw no link between that and attacks on people.
Parks Canada closed the Red Deer and Panther valleys to visitors, with the closure running through November 30. “This is a tragic incident,” the agency said, offering condolences to the victims’ families and friends.
Attacks of any kind are rare in Canada. Roughly 40 are reported each year, with two to five deaths.
Sources
- Grizzly Bear Kills Two Hikers and Their Dog in Banff National Park
- Grizzly Bear Kills Couple and Their Dog In Banff National Park
- A Grizzly Bear Killed Two People and Their Dog in Banff National Park
