Woman dies after mauling by aggressive grizzly bear
JOHNSONS CROSSING, Yukon • The Yukon conservation service is trying to piece together why an elderly and apparently hungry male grizzly pushed in a window of a home, chased the two residents outside and mauled a woman to death.
Such an attack is a rare occurrence and not normal grizzly behaviour, said Ryan Hennings, the manager of enforcement and compliance with the Conservation Officer Services Branch.
“This is very strange,” Mr. Hennings said in an interview on Monday. “At this point, we’re still trying to determine what happened and why.”
The attack occurred Saturday morning outside the small community of Johnsons Crossing, about 140 kilometres southeast of Whitehorse.
The couple’s dog alerted them that a bear was on the property. Matthias Liniger went outside to calm the dog, saw the bear and ran to grab his rifle. Meanwhile, the bear went through the window.
Mr. Liniger and his wife, Claudia Huber, ran outside while the bear gave chase and caught the woman. Mr. Liniger managed to kill the animal and get his wife to the closest medical centre.
Ms. Huber, 42, died at the Teslin Medical Centre despite attempts to resuscitate her, said Yukon’s coroner, Kirsten Macdonald.
Mr. Hennings said the male grizzly was about 25 years old, considered the upper age limit in the wild. The animal was also underweight, at about 170 kilograms, compared with an average weight of an adult male of 200 to 225 kilograms.
“He was in poor condition, but he wasn’t starving. He wasn’t emaciated at this point,” Mr. Hennings said. “He hadn’t put on the fat reserves over the summer to hibernate.
“That’s why he was still out at this time of year.”
But Mr. Hennings said even hunger didn’t explain such aggressive behaviour by a grizzly and there was nothing to entice the bear to the home.
“We found no obvious attractants that the property owner may have left around. In fact, we were very impressed with the care and management of bear attractants at this property,” he said.
“There was not even a barbecue on the porch.”