As search intensifies for grizzlies that attacked B.C. school group, residents say bear encounters on the rise

As B.C. conservation officers continued to search for the three grizzlies involved in Thursday’s attack on an elementary school group in Bella Coola, residents say the incident reflects years of rising bear encounters in the remote Central Coast community.

At a news conference Sunday, Sgt. Jeff Tyre with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said officers have installed trail cameras and tightened the search area to a few kilometres around the 4 Mile subdivision where the attack happened, believing that the bears are likely to return there.

Tyre said only one bear was spotted in the past 24 hours, and it was far from the attack site.

Three students and one teacher were hospitalized Thursday when the bear attacked a group of about 20 people, including teachers and Grade 4 and 5 students, in Bella Coola, a community about 420 kilometres northwest of Vancouver as the crow flies.

The group was on a field trip and eating lunch at the time.

Conservation officers have since said they believe a mother bear with two cubs was likely involved in the attack.

Bella Coola is a small unincorporated community surrounded by steep mountains and dense rainforest. 

Known as the Gateway to the Great Bear Rainforest, it is a region where encounters between people and wildlife are not uncommon.

But residents say interactions have intensified in recent years.

Nuxalk Nation hereditary chief Noel Pootlass said a new population of grizzlies began moving into the valley around 2018, after being pushed from their territory by logging, drought and forest fires.

“The population is so big now, it probably doubled or tripled in our valley,” he said. 

He says the community has dealt with dozens of incidents over the past seven years.

“Bears have been breaking into homes and they go on porches where there's dog food or cat food…and that's a huge risk for people.”

Pootlass says the Nuxalk have traditionally had a respectful relationship with bears but the pressures of logging and climate change have altered that balance.