Fatal Yukon grizzly bear attack on woman, baby needs full investigation: expert

A grizzly bear expert says fatal attacks such as the one on a woman and her baby in Yukon are unusual and it’s important to thoroughly investigate what happened.

The Yukon Coroner’s Service said Valerie Theoret, 37, and her 10-month-old baby Adele Roesholt died Monday in the Einarson Lake area near the Northwest Territories boundary.

Chris Servheen, who was a grizzly bear recovery co-ordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 35 years, said it’s an unusual attack. 

“It’s most unfortunate, particularly where a woman and child were involved,” he said in an interview from Missoula, Mont. “It’s a very sad state of affairs — something that no one likes to see happen — and that’s why it’s important to understand what it was that was going on here.

“It would be valuable to try to understand why it happened, if that can be determined through a careful re-creation of the events.”

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The coroner’s service said in a news release that a call came in about 3:45 p.m. Monday from a trapper, Gjermund Roesholt, who said he was charged by a grizzly bear about 100 metres from a cabin Roesholt shared with his wife and infant daughter.

He said he shot the bear dead before finding the bodies of his wife and baby just outside the cabin.

Theoret was remembered Wednesday as a dedicated teacher and mother.

She taught Grade 6 French immersion at Ecole Whitehorse Elementary, the Department of Education confirmed.

She was on maternity leave and it’s believed she had been in the area with her family for about three months.

Friends said she had been active in the Whitehorse community where she played soccer and sang in a choir.

Initially from Quebec, Theoret moved to Yukon and joined the Association-franco-yukonnaise in 2005, said president Isabelle Salesse.

“Every time I met her, she was smiling and positive,” Salesse told the Whitehorse Star.

One of Theoret’s former soccer teammates also remembered her as positive, friendly and energetic. 

“We are very saddened by the news of her death,” said Barbara Chamberlin.

Servheen, who has investigated the last eight fatal grizzly bear attacks in the United States, said there could be a number of scenarios for the fatal attack.

“It could be a surprise encounter where perhaps they were walking around the cabin and … surprised a bear at close range,” he said.

“It could be a case where a bear was hungry and seeking food around the cabin … It could have tried to attack them and prey on them.”

Those theories could be sorted out with an investigation that looks at the movements of the people and the bear, he suggested.

Servheen said investigators should also look at the condition of the bear.

“Was he in poor shape? Was he old? Did he have bad teeth?” he said. “Those types of things can give you information about the potential motivation of the bear.”

Another retired bear biologist, John Hechtel, said most bears in the North are normally hibernating by this time of year.

“Bears sometimes stay out longer if there’s food available or if a bear isn’t in great physical condition,” he said from Fairbanks, Alaska.

Hechtel said it’s important not to speculate on the cause of the attack.

“There will be a necropsy on the bear so the conservation officers or the vet will be able to say if the bear was in good condition or poor condition.”

But it could be difficult to figure out exactly what happened because there are no witnesses, he added.

The RCMP, its forensic identification section and the Yukon government’s Environment Department are assisting the coroner’s office in its investigation.

— With files from CKRW and the Whitehorse Star

Colette Derworiz, The Canadian Press