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The investigation into a suspected fatal grizzly attack this week includes DNA profiling to identify the animal responsible.
On Friday, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said it had captured one bear, and work is underway to determine if it is behind the killings.
Techniques used will include cross-referencing DNA samples from the captured bear against a DNA profile created using materials left at the scene where a mother and daughter were found dead on a trail just outside of Bella Coola on B.C.’s Central Coast.
Forensics expert Dean Hildebrand — founder of the B.C. Institute of Technology Forensics DNA Lab, which is not involved in the investigation — said the use of DNA for an investigation is “very similar to what we do in humans.”
Hildebrand said only trace amounts of DNA would be needed to create the profile, which can then be held indefinitely as an electronic file to check against any future attacks.
“We have a crime scene index in Canada where we get DNA profiles from crime scenes unsolved. They go into a database and they just sit there and those things can link crime scenes together until the other side comes together where you get the offender. So it would be exactly analogous to this.”
DNA profile also created in 2025 attack
B.C. Conservation Officer Service Insp. Jeff Tyre said if they catch the bear responsible for the attack, it will be killed.
He also said they would also check the sample from this week’s attack against the DNA profile created for the grizzly behind a November 2025 incident where a group of students and teachers were injured by a bear in Bella Coola.
Though eight bears were trapped and released in the aftermath of that case, the bear was never found.
The search continues for a grizzly bear believed responsible for a deadly attack on a mother and daughter near Bella Coola, B.C., this week. Members of the public are urged to avoid the Snooka West Trail area. (B.C. Conservation Officer Service)
But he also said DNA testing is a crucial element of the investigation because there are “so many bears” in the area, making it difficult to count.
Bella Coola, about 400 kilometres northwest of Vancouver as the crow flies, is part of the Great Bear Rainforest, a region protected in part because of its importance to grizzly bears.
Coastal First Nations, including the Nuxalk Nation whose territory encompasses Bella Coola, have long coexisted with the animals that are a crucial part of their culture.
“Nuxalk have lived with bears for thousands of years, and we consider them to be our kin,” Elected Chief Samuel Schooner said in an emailed statement this week. Schooner said his community is taking time to heal from this week’s attack, which has reopened trauma from last year, but emphasized that any decisions about how to live with bears moving forward will come from within.
In the meantime, Nuxalk leadership is working with conservation officers and RCMP to provide support and protection, which includes providing escorts for children going to school and offering rides to anyone who needs to get around.
