Fatal black bear attacks are extremely rare despite recent killings in Saskatchewan, experts say

Though last week’s fatal black bear attack that killed a Saskatchewan couple came just months after another death involving a bear in the province, experts say such fatal attacks are still extremely rare.

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Community Safety confirmed last week that a black bear was involved in the deaths of Jay and Deb MacDonald after their bodies were found near McTavish Lake, a remote, fly-in area of the province about 90 kilometres north of La Ronge.  

The couple’s deaths come less than three months after Hrishikesh Koloth, 27, was killed in another black bear attack at a remote uranium exploration site in northeast Saskatchewan — the fourth known fatality resulting from a bear encounter in the province’s history. 

In 2020, 44-year-old Stephanie Blais was killed near her family’s cabin north of Buffalo Narrows, about 220 kilometres northwest of La Ronge.

The first known bear mauling deaths in the province happened when two men were killed in separate incidents in 1983 near Nipawin Provincial Park, which is now called Narrow Hills Provincial Park.

WATCH | Regina couple killed in bear attack:

Bear attack kills Regina couple in northern Saskatchewan

Wildlife officials have euthanized a black bear suspected in the deadly attack on a Regina couple in remote northern Saskatchewan on Wednesday. The bodies of Jay and Deb MacDonald were found near their cabin at McTavish Lake.

An academic paper on bear attacks out of Lakehead University found that in all of Canada, there had been 39 fatalities involving encounters with bears between 1990 and 2023. Seventeen of those were grizzly bear attacks, while the other 22 involved black bears.

While cases like this are few and far between, they are more likely to happen in remote areas, said Doug Clark, a bear expert at the University of Saskatchewan.

“Up until this year, conventional wisdom would have said they’re pretty rare in Saskatchewan. And it is still, in the grand scheme of things,” he said. 

Michael Runtz, a retired associate professor of biology at Ottawa’s Carleton University, says that despite seeing hundreds of black bears over the years, often in remote areas of Ontario, he’s “never yet been attacked by a black bear.”

Bears attack when looking for food: expert

Runtz says black bears are typically considered less aggressive than grizzly bears.

“Black bears tend to be more retiring, more shy, generally speaking, and for that reason, black bear attacks are quite rare.”

According to Runtz, when these attacks happen, they tend to be large male bears acting in a predatory manner.

In most cases, he says the reason for the attack is that the bear is generally healthy and “just trying to access a new source of food, which would be a human.”

Clark suspects the time of year could have played a factor in the spate of deadly bear attacks in Saskatchewan. He noted that in May, there was still about a metre of snow in the bush at the site of the first attack.

“It’s hard not to wonder if there’s a link there between food availability,” he said. “That’s going to stress bears.”

Conservation officers sent to the scene of the recent attack in Saskatchewan located and euthanized a bear suspected to be involved in the deaths of Jay and Deb MacDonald, the province said in a news release.

The carcass is being transported to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, where a necropsy will be conducted, the release said.

The results will provide officials with more information on what condition the bear was in, Clark says, and give a better sense of what led to the attack.

Safety tips

As rare as these attacks are, Clark says people should be extra cautious when heading into remote areas of the province where bears are more common.

“If you’re flying in somewhere, that’s when you might encounter a bear that is likelier, for whatever reason, to display this kind of [predatory] behaviour,” he said.

If people do happen to encounter a black bear, Runtz advises them not to try to run away “and certainly do not play dead, as has been recommended for grizzly bears.”

Instead, he suggests backing away slowly while doing whatever you can to make yourself appear bigger and more aggressive, such as shouting, raising your arms or even throwing things at the bear. 

Both Runtz and Clark also recommend that people carry bear spray.