What was to be a short afternoon field trip for about 20 students and staff of a school in Bella Coola, B.C., became a “traumatic event” where four people were badly hurt when a grizzly attacked without cause, the Nuxalk Nation’s elected chief said on Friday.
Chief Samuel Schooner said in a statement that staff at the school followed all necessary protocols in Thursday’s attack and are well trained to be in their territories.
“This unprecedented grizzly bear attack occurred without provocation and has resulted in significant trauma to our community,” his statement said.
“We are incredibly proud of our teachers and students who responded heroically in the moment to protect one another. The outcome could have been much worse.”
The group included students in Grades 4 and 5.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said the most severely injured were an adult and three children.
BC Emergency Health Services said Thursday when they were flown to hospital and that two were in critical condition and the other two had serious injuries.
Noel Pootlass, the head Nuxalk hereditary chief, said in an interview Friday that all of the students and Indigenous teachers are relatives of his. He identified one of the victims as a cousin, who is a teaching assistant at the school.
Pootlass said the encounter left his relative with serious injuries, which are currently being treated at a hospital in Metro Vancouver, where doctors are also treating the seriously injured children.
He said his cousin “took the main onslaught” of the injuries, which included severe head trauma.
Pootlass added that he saw one young boy in the emergency room with head injuries and “his face was just covered with scratches.”
There was probably 100 people in the local emergency room at one stage, he said.
“Parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, and it was a terrifying experience for them,” he said.
A woman who said her daughter was attacked posted photos on social media on Friday showing the girl on a stretcher in an ambulance and then a plane, saying she was on her way to Vancouver. Later photos showed the girl conscious in a hospital bed, with dressings around her neck.
Pootlass said he heard from a parent of one of the children involved that those in the group where “whacking the bear over the head with what they could use, and the bear eventually ran away, but bear spray didn’t work, and they had to use human force.”
Grizzly bears generally avoid large groups, but an abundance of fruit and salmon this year have attracted more of them into the region, as logging and drought conditions have pushed the animals toward the coast, he said.
There have been growing reports of bears breaking into sheds and salmon smoke houses.
“The whole valley has that,” he said. “So, the bears have become very aggressive. They have been around humans, and now, they are not scared of humans, and that’s why they attacked, apparently.”
The conservation service said in a statement Friday that the grizzly emerged from the forest as students and teachers were having lunch on a trail.
Multiple teachers “physically intervened” in the attack and used bear spray and a bear banger to drive the grizzly away, the statement said.
The service said its officers worked overnight to find the grizzly but no bear has been seen, and it will continue to search the area, about 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
A preliminary investigation suggests the bear may have previously been injured, it said.
“We recognize this incident is distressing for the community. We are in close contact with the Nuxalk Nation as our investigation continues,” said Insp. Kevin Van Damme of the conservation officer service.
The school whose pupils and staff were injured in the attack is thanking them for their courage and resilience.
The Nuxalk Nation’s academy says in an online statement that it will continue to support any students or staff injured, as well as those who witnessed it and were traumatized.
Pootlass said the nation is holding a healing ceremony throughout Friday.
“The whole community and the neighbouring village are traumatized, and they are all worried about the impact of what the kids have seen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2025.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
