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Catherine Sweatt-Mueller, 62, was staying with her parents on Red Pine Island in Rainy Lake for a family reunion, Ontario Provincial Police told theStar Tribune.
On Sunday, at around 6 p.m. local time, Sweatt-Mueller reportedly left the cabin when she heard her two dogs barking outside. When one of the dogs returned injured and without Sweatt-Mueller, her parents — both in their 80s — called the police, who then searched the surrounding area.
“It took them a while because there’s a lot of underbrush and different trails,” Ontario Provincial Police Constable Jim Davis toldthe outlet.
Davis toldthe Associated Pressthat he did not know what caused the attack and that this was the first report of a bear attacking someone they had this summer.
“The family is, of course, very devastated,” Davis told the outlet. “The officers on the scene were fairly devastated to deliver the news. … We can’t believe a bear attacked a person.”
According to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the bear that was shot was taken to the University of Guelph in Ontario where it will have a necropsy to determine if there were any health issues or injuries that could have caused it to attack, both the AP andStar Tribunereported.
“Attacks of this nature are extremely rare and our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victim,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement to the outlets. The last fatal bear attack in Ontario was reportedly in 2005.
The Ontario Ministry did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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Garshelis said, “If you ever approach a black bear closely, typically they’ll see you and run off.”
The Ontario Ministry is also conducting a search to find the other two bears who were at the scene.
source: people.com
