Four grizzly bears have been destroyed in British Columbia, Canada, after DNA testing confirmed their involvement in a fatal attack on a mother and her daughter. The victims, Jennifer Balcarras, 48, and Selah Reed, 20, died earlier this month while walking on a trail in the Bella Coola area.
The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service launched an investigation after the women were reported missing on November 1. According to an earlier report, the family said the pair had set out for what was meant to be a short afternoon walk and never returned.
Search operations involving conservation officers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police led to the recovery of the remains. Balcarras’ remains were found on the Monday, and her daughter’s were recovered the following day.
Forensic testing and animal DNA analysis subsequently established that a female grizzly bear, known as a sow, and her three cubs were responsible for the deaths. In an update on Tuesday, BCCOS Inspector Jeff Tyre confirmed that all four animals had been destroyed in line with provincial human-wildlife conflict response guidelines, with public safety cited as the reason.
Tyre said the attack likely involved predatory behaviour, describing such incidents as very rare. He also noted that more than a dozen conservation officers took part in the investigation over the past week, working through difficult terrain and challenging weather conditions.
The victims’ family remembered the mother and daughter as exceptionally close. Balcarras’ brother, Josh, told CBC that the two were “two peas in a pod” who shared many hobbies. “When Jenny hiked, Selah was right there beside her,” he said.
The conservation service also confirmed that DNA testing ruled out any connection between the four bears and a separate attack on a school group in the Bella Coola area in November 2025. That incident left 11 people injured, two of them critically, and the bear responsible was never found.
Samuel Schooner, the elected Chief of the Nuxalk Nation, said the fatal attack had reopened painful memories for community members still recovering from the earlier incident. He thanked conservation officers for their work in resolving the case and expressed sympathy for the victims’ relatives.
Grizzly bears are listed as a species of special concern under Canadian federal legislation. An estimated 10,000 to 13,000 live in British Columbia, where the provincial government classifies them as vulnerable.
The British Columbia Wildlife Federation has previously raised concerns about growing conflict between humans and grizzly bears following the province’s 2017 ban on sport hunting of the animals.
Key facts at a glance
The case began when Balcarras and Reed failed to return from a walk in the Bella Coola trail area. Their remains were recovered in the days after they were reported missing, and forensic analysis later tied a sow and her three cubs to the deaths. All four bears were killed to protect the public, and officials stressed that predatory attacks of this kind remain extremely uncommon. The DNA results also cleared the four animals of any role in the 2025 school group attack, which remains unsolved.
