A mom and daughter have died after a suspected grizzly bear attack in the Canadian province of British Columbia, their household has announced.
The ladies – recognized as Jennifer Balcarras, 48, and her daughter Selah Reed, 20 -were reported lacking on 1 November when they did not return from what was supposed to be a short afternoon stroll, the household said.
Their stays were discovered in a path space in Bella Coola, according to the BC Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS), which said evidence at the scene “suggested an animal may have been involved”.
Conservation officers are working to monitor down any bears concerned.
Balcarras’ stays were discovered on Monday and Reed’s on Tuesday during search efforts by conservation officers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Jeff Tyre, an inspector with the BCCOS, said it was not yet clear if more than one was probably concerned in the ladies’s deaths.
He added that any captured bear would be assessed and if it is discovered to have been concerned in the attack “it will be dispatched in accordance with provincial human-wildlife conflict response guidelines to protect public safety”.
Balcarras and Reed were “two peas in a pod” who “got along really, really well” and shared many hobbies, Balcarras’ brother, Josh Balcarras, advised CBC.
“When Jenny hiked, Selah was right there beside her,” he said.
Balcarras had not too long ago moved to Bella Coola to pursue a new profession and start a new chapter in her life, according to an online fundraiser to help the household with funeral prices.
Grizzly bears are listed as a species of “special concern” under federal laws, and are an important half of the British Columbia panorama, according to Environmental Reporting BC, exterior.
Between 10,000 and 13,000 grizzly bears are estimated to reside in the province, according to the province’s Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, which has categorized them as weak.
According to the ministry, conflicts between bears and people are “relatively rare” unless the animals are startled or defending their cubs and food.
But there have been a quantity of attacks in British Columbia in latest years.
A grizzly bear injured two hikers in the McGregor Mountain space in October 2025, one of whom died later due to essential accidents. The bear was later discovered lifeless.
The following month, a bear attacked a college group – also in the Bella Coola space – injuring 11 people.
The BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF) has said that reports of grizzly-human conflicts have risen since the province launched a ban on looking grizzly bears for sport in 2017.
“With no hunting pressure, grizzlies and humans will increasingly occupy the same spaces with inevitable consequences,” the BCWF’s government director Jesse Zeman said at the time.
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