A Canadian mother and daughter were killed in a suspected grizzly bear attack while taking a casual walk on a popular trail minutes from their home.
Jennifer Balcarras, 48, and her 20-year-old daughter Selah Reed vanished Saturday on the Snooka West Trail, a route that sits just a five-minute drive from their residence in Bella Coola, British Columbia. Balcarras, an art therapist and grandmother of four, had relocated to the unincorporated community of roughly 2,000 people to build a new career and start fresh, according to a GoFundMe established for her surviving children.
The alarm was raised when Balcarras failed to appear for a scheduled online catch-up, her brother Matt Balcarras told the Vancouver Sun. Her mauled body was discovered Monday, with Reed’s remains found a day later.
“There was evidence to suggest a [grizzly] bear may have been involved,” Jeff Tyre, a British Columbia Conservation Officer Service official, said. Officials have not disclosed specific details about what pointed to a bear attack, but confirmed they are working to locate and capture any bears involved — indicating the possibility of multiple animals.
“It is not yet clear whether more than one bear was involved. Any captured bear will be assessed. If it is determined to have been involved in the attack, it will be dispatched in accordance with provincial human-wildlife conflict response guidelines to protect public safety,” conservation officials said.
The proximity to town made the deaths especially jarring for the family. “It’s very close to town and it’s not remote,” Matt Balcarras said of the trail. “They were not naive city folks. They were strong women living the life.”
Josh Balcarras, another of the mother’s brothers, struggled to process how an ordinary outing turned fatal. “It’s surreal,” he said of what began as “just a casual walk.”
“It doesn’t seem real. It feels like a dream.”
Reed, a teaching assistant, was Balcarras’ youngest child. Josh Balcarras described the pair as exceptionally close companions. “[Reed] liked a lot of the same things Jenny liked. I think they got along really, really well. When Jenny hiked, Selah was right there beside her,” he told CBC.
The GoFundMe organized by friends emphasized the abruptness of the tragedy. “She was working toward building a future and had not yet had the opportunity to establish savings or put aside funds to help her family with unexpected expenses such as these,” the fundraiser stated regarding Balcarras.
“Tragically, no one could have anticipated that her family would be faced with such an unimaginable loss.”
Of Reed, the same fundraiser noted: “She was just 20 years old, with her whole life ahead of her. She was only beginning her journey into adulthood, making this loss even more heartbreaking.”
The attack comes less than a year after another violent bear encounter near Bella Coola, when 11 people were attacked in November 2025. Three children were left in critical condition after being mauled by a bear believed to have been accompanied by two cubs.
Conservation officers continue working to locate and capture any bears connected to Saturday’s fatal encounter on the Snooka West Trail.