Residents say grizzly encounters up in Bella Coola, B.C., scene of attack on students

As the search continues for a bear that attacked an elementary school group in Bella Coola, a debate on the hunting ban has reignited.

Two grizzly bears have been captured in Bella Coola on British Columbia’s central coast, and DNA tests may be conducted on one of them to determine if it was involved in last week’s attack on a group of students and teachers.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says the other bear has already been examined, and because any link to the attack is “not conclusive” it will be fitted with a GPS collar and relocated.

A spokesman for the environment ministry says an update about the other animal will be provided after the possible DNA assessment.

Conservation officers have been comparing evidence from the attack scene, 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, with evidence analyzed from the two bears caught on Monday.

The service has previously said a mother grizzly and two cubs are thought to have been involved in Thursday’s attack that left a teacher and three pupils with severe injuries, and the sow may have been injured.

Insp. Kevin Van Damme with the conservation service said after the capture of the first bear on Monday morning that the mother grizzly and her cubs were still considered a danger to the public.

He said residents needed to avoid the 4 Mile area, where the attack took place, and should stay indoors and not go looking for the bears themselves.

“The situation remains fluid as officers work tirelessly to capture and identify any bears involved,” he said.

Residents of Bella Coola said they’ve been grappling with a spike in encounters with grizzly bears in the community.

Bella Coola is known for its salmon-bearing streams, rich wildlife, old-growth forests, and steep mountains.

Resident Corey Van Andel has been living in the valley for four years, and said he noticed a number of house break-ins by bears that wouldn’t have happened in previous years.

He said the bears seem more comfortable coming to people’s homes and he knows two people who have had bear break-ins this year, before last week’s attack.

Nuxalk Nation hereditary chief Noel Pootlass said the nation has “lived in harmony” with local bears for generations, but there’s been an influx of “foreign bears” moving into the valley over the past seven years or so due to logging, forest fires, and drought.

Pootlass said the valley used to have many black bears, but when more grizzlies started showing up, the black bears decided to move.

“We still have some, not as much as we used to,” said Pootlass.

He said the valley is ideal bear territory and the arriving grizzlies are behaving aggressively to claim territory by charging vehicles, breaking into salmon smoke houses, and making “bear beds” under homes.

“My next-door neighbour in the village, they had a bear living under their back porch, and that’s what these bears have been doing for seven years, and they’ve become a problem now because they’re not scared of humans,” said Pootlass.

Seeing grizzlies in the village is common, Pootlass said, and he had seen family groups with two, three, or even four cubs, “almost the size of the mother,” roaming through town.

“They’re walking our streets, right by the bank, right by the stores in the daytime, and they walk through the alleys, and they raid fruit trees, and they go off (into) the gardens,” said Pootlass.

Residents may have noticed a recent increase in bear activity in Bella Coola, but government statistics suggest overall encounters with grizzlies have recently been stable or slightly down across the province.

Interactions with grizzlies typically peak in B.C. in September and October and statistics for those months have not been released yet this year.

But in 2024, there were a total of 122 calls-outs resulting in 10 bears being destroyed or moved in those two months, while from 2011 to 2023, there were an average of 133 call outs in the same months, resulting in an average of 16 grizzlies being killed or relocated.

Reports for August this year, the most recent data available, show 63 calls. That is also down compared with the August average of 74 from 2011 to 2024.

However, Pootlass says there were multiple fires this year around nearby Anahim Lake, with the habitat loss increasing bear activity in communities like Bella Coola to the south due to habitat loss.

Samuel Schooner, elected chief of the Nuxalk Nation, said in a statement on Monday that conservation officers’ work is still ongoing, and they are asking everyone to stay away from the attack site and be aware of their surroundings.

Schooner said he understands that recovery will be a long road, but they will support victims and their families in every way they can.

“They are our heroes, and we look forward to having them home with us as soon as they are able to return,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2025.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press