Grizzly Kills Woman, Baby at Remote Cabin

Trapper found bodies of wife, daughter after he was charged by bear
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 28, 2018 2:47 AM CST
Updated Nov 28, 2018 6:03 AM CST
Bear Kills Woman, Baby at Remote Cabin
Local trappers say bears are still active in the area, though it will be hibernation season soon.   (Ray Paunovich via AP, File)

Tragedy in the Yukon: A woman and her 10-month-old daughter were killed by a grizzly bear at a cabin in a remote part of the Canadian territory, authorities say. The Yukon Coroner's Service says trapper Gjermund Roesholt was returning to the cabin in the Einarson Lake area Monday afternoon when he was charged by a grizzly bear about 100 yards from the building, the Yukon News reports. After shooting the bear dead, he found the bodies of wife Valérie Théorêt, 37, and their daughter, Adele, just outside the cabin. "It appears they had been out for a walk when the incident occurred" some time between 10am and 3pm, the coroner says.

Théorêt was on maternity leave from her job teaching at Whitehorse Elementary School. Friends say the couple, who bought a trapline around three years ago, loved the outdoors and saw Théorêt's time off as an opportunity to spend an extended period at the cabin. Fellow trappers say the couple knew what they were doing in the wilderness. "These are competent bush people. It's not from lack of experience," neighbor Brian Melanson tells the CBC. "It's going to be devastating to the community, because it's going to hit home to everybody. You know, we go out there, all of us, we take our wives and our children, and we live out there," he says. (In 2015, a Yukon man accidentally killed his wife when he shot at the bear that was dragging her away.)

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