Bear Kills Female Energy Worker in Canada

A female employee of Canada's largest oil and gas company was killed by a black bear at a work site in northern Alberta, reports the CBC. The 36-year-old had just emerged from a washroom at Suncor's oil-sands site when she encountered the bear, reports Global News. Co-workers tried in vain to save her, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police then killed the bear.

“We don't know why this happened," says a company spokesperson, who promised an investigation. "We are reminding people to be especially vigilant in dealing with wildlife." Most of Suncor's production comes from these oil sands, also called tar sands, explains Reuters, and the company has a sprawling industrial complex at the site. The region is heavily populated with bears now emerging from hibernation, it adds. (More Canada stories.)