A Canadian couple sent a haunting final signal before they were mauled to death by a grizzly bear in Banff National Park.
Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse were experienced hikers who had embarked on a 7 day trip in the Canadian national park.
The sixty-two-year-olds had shared their full itinerary with Inglis’s uncle Colin, and informed him late on Friday that they were going to be delayed in their arrival to their planned camping spot, and so camped near the Red Deer River in the Panther Valley.
However, just a few hours later, Colin received a distressing message from the pair, indicating that things were not okay.
“I got a call from their Garmin [inReach device] that said, ‘Bear attack bad,’ ” he told the Calgary Herald. Canadian park officials were also automatically notified by the message.
“The alarm bells were going off, ‘This is not good’ — that means there’d been some engagement. You’re completely helpless to know what’s going on.”
A helicopter was flown out to try and locate the couple, but was forced to turn back due to poor weather conditions. An on-the-ground team set out to find them at 10.45pm, and reached the site at 2.30am.
When the search team reached the site they discovered the mauled bodies of Inglis and Gusse along with the body of their 7-year-old border collie.
The couple reportedly tried to fight off the bear using bear spray but the animal was relentless.
“One can of bear spray had been fully discharged, but this bear was not to be deterred,” Colin said.
“Their tent was crushed and their e-readers were open, they were both discovered in their stocking feet,” he said, recounting what he had heard from the authorities.
What was believed to be the same bear was still around when the rescue team reached the site, but it was still showing signs of aggression so the group were forced to shoot it in order to save themselves.
“In their words, the bear was intent on killing them,” Colin added.
The grizzly was a twenty-five-year-old female, said to be in “fair body condition”, but was underweight for this time of year.
