A grizzly bear attacked a group of elementary school students in Bella Coola, British Columbia on Thursday afternoon, leaving 11 people hurt. The attack happened around 2pm on a trail close to Highway 20, which is about 435 miles away from Vancouver. Two people are in critical condition and two others have serious injuries after the bear went after the children and their teacher.
According to Express, emergency workers got a call about the animal attack at 1:46pm and rushed to help. The students were from a Year 4-5 class at Acwsalcta School when the bear came at them. A male teacher jumped in to try and protect the kids, and he got “the whole brunt” of the bear’s attack. He was badly hurt and had to be taken to the hospital by helicopter along with three other people. Seven more people got treated right there where it happened.
Veronica Schooner’s 10-year-old son Alvarez was there when everything went down, and she says he can’t get it out of his head. When she got to the school after hearing what happened, everyone was upset and crying. “Everybody was in shock at the school. A lot of people were crying, and I don’t know, I just wanted my son, and I grabbed him, and then I took him home,” she said. Her son told her the bear ran really close to him but was going after someone else.
The bear is still out there and people are scared
After the attack ended, local authorities said the “aggressive bear” was still somewhere in the area and hadn’t been caught yet. Police officers and wildlife experts went to look for it, and they told everyone living nearby to stay inside their homes and not go on the highway. “Officers are armed. Remain indoors and off the highway,” the Nuxalk Nation posted online. The situation has people thinking about other recent dangerous animal encounters that have happened.
A police officer named Madonna Saunderson said the injuries were “very serious at the very least” but didn’t say how old the students were or whether they were boys or girls. The people who were hurt the worst got flown to hospitals that could handle their bad injuries.
The Nuxalk Nation told people it made sense that they would be feeling afraid and worried. “It is understandable if you are feeling stressed and scared,” they said. They also started offering rides to people so they wouldn’t have to walk around where the bear might be. A bunch of people tried to stop the bear while it was attacking, doing what they could to help the kids.
Acwsalcta School said they would keep the school closed on Friday because of “the bear incident.” They wrote on Facebook that they didn’t really know what to say but were thankful for everyone. “It’s hard to know what to say during this very difficult time. We are so grateful for our team and our students,” they wrote.
This whole thing shows how risky it can be when people and wild animals run into each other in parts of Canada that are far from big cities. Right now, officers are still trying to find the bear while everyone hopes the injured people will get better and the kids who saw it all can start to feel safe again.
Published: Nov 21, 2025 02:15 pm