CNN
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Two people have died after a suspected grizzly bear attack in Canada’s Banff National Park, officials said.
Rescuers were first alerted around 8 p.m. Friday after receiving “an alert from an inReach/GPS device indicating a bear attack,” the national park said in a statement.
The alert says the incident occurred in the Red Deer River Valley region of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
“Parks Canada immediately mobilized a Human Wildlife Attack Response Team, whose members are specially trained to respond to wildlife attacks,” Banff National Park said in the release. “The weather conditions at the time did not allow the use of helicopters and the response team traveled to the scene overnight by land.”
The response team arrived on scene around 1 a.m. Saturday and found two people dead and a grizzly bear displaying aggressive behavior, the release said.
Parks Canada staff euthanized the bear “to ensure public safety” and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrived on scene to help transport the victims to Sundre, Alberta, about 75 miles northeast. west of Calgary, officials said.
“This is a tragic incident and Parks Canada wishes to express its sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” the statement said.
The suspected deadly attack by a grizzly bear in Canada occurred just weeks ago. A grizzly bear linked to the death of a woman in July near West Yellowstone was euthanized in Montana after breaking into a home through a window with a cub and taking a container of dog food.
In 2020, the same bear was also involved in an encounter that injured a person near Henrys Lake State Park in Idaho, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a news release.
The male cub that was near the adult grizzly bear was captured and held at the agency’s Helena Wildlife Rehabilitation Center before being transferred to a zoo, officials said.
And last month, parts of the Custer Gallatin National Forest near Big Sky, Montana, were closed after a person was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting, officials said.
Banff National Park, Canada’s first national park, is a popular tourist attraction, known for its picturesque turquoise waters. Parks Canada notes that the park “is home to hundreds of species, including grizzly bears, wolves, elk and more.”