school field trip in bella coola turns into fight for survival as grizzly injures students, teacher
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a routine field trip turned into a fight for survival on thursday when an unprovoked grizzly bear charged a group of 20 students and teachers near the bella coola river, seriously injuring three children and one adult.
the grade 4 and 5 class from acwsalcta school had stopped for lunch along a trail at around 1:30 p.m. during a land-based learning trip just across the highway from the nuxalk nation school when the towering animal emerged through the forest, instantly terrifying the students.
“we heard a growl, then a lot of the kids were scared,” said alvarez schooner, a 10-year-old from the class.
staff reacted without hesitation.
one of the teachers confronted the grizzly, unleashing bear spray and firing a banger to scare the animal away from the children. what followed, alvarez said, was chaos — students screaming and running for their lives as the bear circled and attacked.
blinded and agitated, the bear ran straight through the group, knocking alvarez onto his stomach as it barrelled toward the rest of the students.
“i got bear spray on my lips as i fell to the ground,” he told postmedia news on friday.
the student and a few of his classmates, along with a teacher, made a split decision to sprint back toward the highway near the school.
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“i told a few people far away — because others were being attacked and i was too scared of the bear — to, ‘run, run as fast as you can,’ ” alvarez said. “we had to run all the way back to the school. i was losing my breath.”
his mother, veronica schooner, said she rushed to the school after receiving an emergency text following thursday’s incident.
“people were everywhere in the foyer. i grabbed him and i took him out of there,” she said, recalling how her son’s face burned from bear spray, and he was limping from an ankle injury.
four people suffered serious injuries, including two who remain in critical condition and another two in serious condition, according to b.c. emergency health services. seven other people were given first aid at the scene but didn’t require hospital treatment.
bad weather forced the b.c. ambulance service to call the joint rescue coordination centre in victoria for assistance, but a plane and a helicopter sent from canadian forces base comox were unable to land in bella coola. patients were instead taken by road ambulance on the gruelling 450-kilometre, six-hour trip to williams lake airport, where they were then flown by air ambulance to hospitals in vancouver. the first third of the highway out of bella coola is gravel, often narrow and clinging to mountains.
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noel pootlass, the head nuxalk hereditary chief, told the canadian press on friday that all of the students and indigenous teachers are relatives of his. he identified one of the victims as a cousin, who is a teaching assistant at the school.
pootlass said the encounter left his relative with serious injuries, which are currently being treated at a hospital in metro vancouver, where doctors are also treating the seriously injured children.
he said his cousin “took the main onslaught” of the injuries, which included severe head trauma.
a video grab of insp. kevin van damme of the b.c. conservation officer service says an attack on a group of elementary pupils in bella coola, b.c., on nov. 20 happened as the group was having lunch by a trail. he says teachers repelled the bear with pepper spray and a bear banger, but an adult and three pupils were badly hurt.
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government of b.c.
pootlass added that he saw one young boy in the emergency room with head injuries and “his face was just covered with scratches.”
there were probably 100 people in the local er at one stage, he said.
“parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, and it was a terrifying experience for them.”
other family members of the injured students took to social media on friday to thank school staff who intervened, outlining the extent of their loved one’s injuries.
postmedia was unable to connect with them after the attack.
one child required 100 stitches, had three bone fractures and had emergency surgery.
rcmp and conservation officers searched for the grizzly overnight near the 4 mile subdivision on b.c.’s central coast but the animal wasn’t found. crews resumed the search on friday and set up traps.
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the b.c. conservation officer service said the investigation will include assessing the area, collecting evidence and talking to the witnesses and victims.
meantime, authorities have urged locals to avoid the forested areas and the river near 4 mile, stay indoors and travel only by vehicle until further notice.
the tight-knit north central b.c. community is reeling from the attack, with authorities and residents hailing the heroic actions of the adults who stepped in.
acwsalcta school issued a statement friday thanking the school staff who helped during the attack, saying, “thank you for your swift actions, calm leadership and unwavering dedication to protecting and supporting our students.”
“to our students: we are so proud of the way you supported one another, listened to instructions and were together as a community.”
acwsalcta school is an independent nuxalk first nations school in bella coola. an outing of grades 4 and 5 students from this school was attacked by a grizzly bear on nov. 20.
scott carrier
the school suspended classes friday and has been converted to provide counselling, meals and cultural support following the incident, along with the nuxalk nation’s youth centre.
“this unprecedented grizzly bear attack occurred without provocation and has resulted in significant trauma to our community,” chief samuel schooner of the nuxalk nation added. “we are incredibly proud of our teachers and students who responded heroically in the moment to protect one another.”
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the attack could have been worse had it not been for the heroic actions of teachers who “put themselves in harm’s way to protect the children,” said insp. kevin van damme of the conservation officer service at a news conference in vancouver on friday.
he described the bear attack as “extremely rare.”
“in my 34 years of experience, i have not seen an attack like this with a large group of people,” he said. “we are trying to determine the behaviour and why the bear acted the way it did.”
he said members of the nuxalk nation know how to coexist with bears and the teachers were well-prepared and equipped with bear spray and bangers.
van damme said there have been a couple of bears identified as having increased interactions with humans in the area this year but doesn’t know whether the offending bear was one of them.
veronica schooner noted that her son’s class wasn’t deep in the backcountry when the attack happened, but just across the highway from the school. students had been gathering traditional plant medicines — including old man’s beard moss — when the bear emerged.
“our people have been living alongside bears for hundreds of years. why all of a sudden are they attacking?” veronica schooner questioned. “we know to be bear-aware, to make a lot of noise on hikes. that bear still came after them when they were stopped for lunch.”
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a few weeks before the encounter, the nuxalk nation’s stewardship social-media page warned residents that “there have been reports of bears migrating throughout the valley and we need to do all we can to allow them to move past our residences.” the post urged people to remove attractants, including ensuring garbage was secured or properly disposed of.
bears can be aggressive and predatory at this time of year, as they try to boost their fat stores before hibernation.
the b.c. wildlife federation issued a statement friday, saying that grizzly attacks have increased since b.c. banned hunting in 2017.
“with no hunting pressure, grizzlies and humans will increasingly occupy the same spaces with inevitable consequences,” said b.c. wildlife federation executive director jesse zeman in the statement.
zeman said members in the creston area say they no longer feel safe walking outside due to the rising number of grizzly encounters.
according to the federation, grizzlies are the animal most likely to attack humans in b.c., which is home to 15,000 of canada’s estimated 26,000 grizzlies.
with files from tiffany crawford and j.j. adams
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