Mounties escort Bella Coola students after fatal bear attack

Additional RCMP officers have been brought into Bella Coola, B.C., to escort students to school after a suspected grizzly bear attack killed a mother and her adult daughter, the Nuxalk Nation said Thursday.

The nation said in a social media post that police will also run more night patrols and offer rides home to youth who are out after dark, according to The Canadian Press. Authorities have asked residents to follow a voluntary 8 p.m. curfew while the search continues.

Elected Chief Samuel Schooner called it “a time of layered tragedy” and said the attack had brought up painful memories for some members. The nation held a drum circle Wednesday to honour the victims, a school art therapist and her daughter, whose remains were found about 150 metres apart on trails in the Snooka West area earlier this week. We reported the first details of the attack on Nov. 3.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said in an update Thursday that officers are working with provincial wildlife biologists and using several trapping techniques, with officers rotating into the community. No animal has been caught. The service has said it is not yet clear whether more than one bear was involved, and it is asking the public to avoid the Snooka West Trail area.

The service has also said bear DNA from the site of last year’s attack will be compared with samples gathered this week. In November 2025, a grizzly attacked a group of about 20 elementary school students and teachers in Bella Coola, badly injuring an adult and three children. That bear was never captured, and the search for it was called off.

The Canadian Press reports that deadly bear attacks are rare in British Columbia, with at least 10 fatalities since the 1990s. Bella Coola is about 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver.

The B.C. Coroners Service and the RCMP have not released a cause of death. Canada News Media is not naming the victims, who have been identified publicly by family and in other reports.

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