A grizzly bear that killed a mother and infant outside a remote cabin in Canada in November 2018 was emaciated and injured, a coroner said.
Valérie Théorêt, 37, a French teacher, and her 10-month-old daughter, Adele Roesholt, were mauled to death near their cabin in the Yukon Territory on Nov. 26.
Théorêt’s husband Gjermund Roesholt, a trapper, was charged by the bear later that day and shot it dead. As he approached the cabin, he found the bodies of his wife and young daughter.
According to the Yukon Coroner’s Service, the bear was suffering from a lack of food at the time of its death.
Today’s front page: Mourning ‘a bright light’
Friends, colleagues grief-stricken by fatal maulings of teacher, infant girl.A memorial display has been set up at École Whitehorse Elementary School for Valérie Théorêt, a Grade 6 French immersion teacher, and her daughter, Adele pic.twitter.com/ZJvzrk53iY
— The Whitehorse Star (@WhitehorseStar) November 28, 2018
The bear “was emaciated and would not have been capable of hibernation given its complete lack of body fat,” the coroner wrote in a recently released report (pdf).
“Further, given the scarcity of quality food during late November, it seems unlikely that the bear would have been capable of acquiring sufficient body fat to survive the winter.”
Besides being hungry, the bear “may have also been in significant and chronic pain due to multiple porcupine quills penetrating its digestive system from mouth to stomach,” the coroner wrote. The bear also had a large injury on its abdomen, which appeared to have occurred in the weeks prior to its death and was partially healed.
The bear was an 18-year-old male.
#Yukon Coroner’s report finds the bear which attacked and killed Valérie Théorêt and Adèle Roesholt acted preditory and ambushed the two from thick brush. The 18-year-old male grizzly was in emaciated and injured condition. pic.twitter.com/ICyfT06Syq
— Tim Kucharuk (@TimKucharuk) March 27, 2019
Investigators found that the bear followed a fresh snowmobile trail and encountered Valérie Théorêt and her child walking along the trail.
“The bear became aware of something moving towards it on the trail (it may or may not have known it was a human) and moved into a position of advantage under the cover of thick spruce tree branches near the trail from which it attacked Valérie and Adéle,” the coroner said. “Both Valérie and Adéle received fatal injuries and were dragged off the trail by the bear.”
The bear stayed near the bodies until it heard Gjermund Roesholt approaching and charged him.
Roesholt shot the bear from a distance of 2 meters with a 7 mm Remington Magnum rifle.
The deaths of the mother and child were ruled as caused by a grizzly bear attack and classified as accidental.
Investigators said that the bear “was acting entirely predatory in nature” throughout the attacks.
After the attack, experts said similar attacks were rare.
Happening now: #Yukon’s Chief Coroner releases results of investigation into the deaths of Valérie Théoret and Adèle Roesholt, who were killed by a grizzly bear last year. pic.twitter.com/PdCjnqXsnH
— Philippe Morin (@YukonPhilippe) March 27, 2019
Mike Baldry with the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service said the last recorded fatal grizzly attack in British Columbia was about 15 years ago, Global News reported on Nov. 28.
“One bear near Kitimat was found consuming human remains recently, but it couldn’t be determined if the bear killed the person or not,” he said.
Only in extreme cases do grizzly bears turn predatory toward humans. Most attacks occur during surprise encounters, such as a hiker stumbling across a mother bear and her cubs.
Chris Servheen, a professor with the University of Montana, said food stress in the late fall might lead adult males to delay hibernation. “A necropsy needs to be done to see if this particular bear was food-stressed, or had some sort of injury,” he suggested at the time.
“Maybe it had broken teeth or a broken jaw that prevented it from eating this summer.”
A mother and her 10-month-old daughter were mauled to death by a grizzly bear in the Yukon. A friend describes Valerie Theoret as being “so full of love and amazing,” who was happy to be a new mom. More here: https://t.co/OjbwrPposb pic.twitter.com/XLsjebIGQJ
— Angela Jung (@AngelaJungCTV) November 28, 2018
Teacher, Mother, and Friend
Colleagues and friends were mourning the deaths of Théorêt and her daughter.
“It was devastating. I just, I just couldn’t believe it at first,” Verena Koenig, a friend of Théorêt, told CTV.
“She was so full of love and amazing,” Koenig said. “She was so happy to have a baby and being a mom.”
She described her friend and Roesholt as “experienced bush people” and said they’d been trapping in the area for the past three years. Authorities said they’d been there for about three months before the attack.
One commenter on Yukon News said that her daughter and son were taught by Théorêt. “She was [a] very nice teacher,” Goldy Brar wrote.
