A list of fatal bear attacks in B.C., after mother and daughter killed in Bella Coola

Deadly bear attacks in British Columbia are rare, but there have been at least 10 fatalities since the 1990s, including this week’s attack that claimed the lives of a mother and daughter in Bella Coola.

1994

Four-year-old Ian Dunbar is killed in a bear attack near 70 Mile House. It was among a spate of bear maulings reported in B.C. that season. Thirty bears were shot in Whistler and Prince George alone.

1995

Two hunters are killed by a sow grizzly with two cubs on Oct. 9, 1995, near Radium Hot Springs, while the hunters were hauling out the carcass of a bull elk. All three bears were later killed.

1997

Patti McConnell, 37, of Paris, Texas, and Raymond Kitchen, 56, of Fort Nelson, B.C., are killed in an attack by a black bear in Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park on Aug. 14, 1997. The attack happened as four campers moved through brush between two hot springs in the park. The bear was shot and killed by a tourist and an examination later showed the bear was gaunt and malnourished.

2005

Arthur Louie, 60, is killed by a grizzly while walking along a road near Invermere, B.C., in late September 2005.

2011

Bernice Evelyn Adolph, 72, a member of the Xaxli’p First Nation, is killed by a black bear near her remote cabin near Lillooet, B.C. Her body is found June 30, 2011, a couple hundred metres down the hill from the cabin.

2025

Hunter Joe Pendry is attacked by a grizzly in the East Kootenay region on Oct. 2, 2025. He shot the bear and fought it off, but died in hospital more than three weeks later. The bear was found dead.

2026

Jenny Balcarras and her daughter, Selah Reed, 20, are killed in a suspected grizzly bear attack in Bella Coola, B.C. They were reported missing on Sunday, before their remains were found about 150 metres apart on Monday and Tuesday in the west trail area of the Snooka trail system. Insp. Jeff Tyre of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said it was not yet clear whether more than one bear was involved.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2026.

The Canadian Press