© 2024 Maine Public

Bangor Studio/Membership Department
63 Texas Ave.
Bangor, ME 04401

Lewiston Studio
1450 Lisbon St.
Lewiston, ME 04240

Portland Studio
323 Marginal Way
Portland, ME 04101

Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.
SIGNAL ALERT: WMEB TV will be off the air for maintenance for an extended period on 10/3/24.

A grizzly bear kills 2 people in Canada's Banff National Park

Visitors canoe on Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park in Banff, Alberta, Canada, on May 23, 2023.
Geoff Robins/AFP
/
Getty Images
Visitors canoe on Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park in Banff, Alberta, Canada, on May 23, 2023.

Two people are dead in a grizzly bear attack in Canada's Banff National Park on Friday, officials said.

Park authorities received an alert about a bear attack on their GPS system Friday at about 8 p.m. local time. The alert came from the Red Deer River Valley inside the park, the park said Sunday.

A Parks Canada Wildlife Human Attack Response Team was sent to the location on the ground. The weather did not permit a helicopter response.

The team got to the location at about 1 a.m. Saturday and found two deceased people, as well as a grizzly bear exhibiting aggressive behavior, the park said.

The bear was euthanized on-site "to ensure public safety," the park said.

Police arrived at 5 a.m. and the victims were sent to Sundre, Alberta.

"This is a tragic incident, and Parks Canada wishes to express its sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims," the park said.

The area is closed until at least Nov. 30, according to a memo the park sent out.

Bears rarely attack humans.

In July, a woman was killed in Yellowstone National Park, though the bear was never found. A black bear nicknamed "Hank the Tank" was captured in August after breaking into several homes in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Parts of Walt Disney World in Orlando were shut down after a black bear was spotted in a tree there in September.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ayana Archie
[Copyright 2024 NPR]