Woman Dies In 'Extremely Rare' Black Bear Attack In Canada

A 62-year-old woman was killed by a black bear while staying at a cabin on a secluded Canadian island north of Minnesota Sunday.

One source pointed that Catherine Sweatt-Mueller of Maple Plain was staying with her parents in a remote cabin on Red Pine Island when the black bear (Ursus americanus) attacked her in what experts believed to be an “extremely rare” incident.

Newsweek said the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) received a call about the attack around 6:30 p.m. On September 1.

According to Provincial Police Constable Jim Davis, Sweatt-Mueller went outside the cabin to check on her two dogs who were, at that time, barking.

“The dogs returned, but she did not,” Davis said to the New York Post, adding that it was the victim's 84-year-old mother who called the OPP “because she was concerned for her daughter's well-being.”

One of the dogs who returned to the cabin was injured.

Police who arrived on the island 30 minutes after they had received the call said that they had a trouble finding Sweatt-Mueller due to the multitude of underbush and “different trails.” They eventually found the body, but it was underneath the bear.

They estimated the animal to weigh about 180 pounds.

Davis reiterated that the victim was “obviously deceased” by the time authorities found her. The bear, he added, was “acting aggressively” and that officers shot and killed the animal in the process.

Two bears whom authorities described as a sow and a yearling, were also found nearby and were “showing signs of hostility.” Davis claimed that the animals were “making loud snorting sounds” and stomped their feet repeatedly.

“The family is, of course, very devastated. The officers on the scene were fairly devastated to deliver the news,” Davis said as they cannot believe that a “bear attacked a person.”

The bear was sent to the University of Guelph for necropsy to determine whether there were “any physical reasons” for its abnormal behavior.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry media relations officer Maimoona Dinani said that “attacks of this nature is extremely rare” and that the last known fatal bear attack in Ontario was in 2005.

Dave Garshelis of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on the other hand opined that black bears are usually timid around people.

“They're very unaggressive bears. If you approach a black bear closely, typically they'll see you and run off,” added the bear research scientist.

However, he pointed that bears can be aggressive towards dogs. Also, the animal “can charge after a dog that was being walked by its owner.”