A Canadian couple fatally attacked by a grizzly bear while camping were skilled backcountry hikers and “took every precaution” against predatory wildlife during their backcountry treks, their friend told The Post.
Jenny Gusse and Doug Inglis, both 62, and their dog Skip, were mauled to death by a bear on September 29 inside Banff National Park after their bear spray failed to stop the animal.
“I knew Doug and Jenny were planning a trip at the time,” longtime friend Ron Teather, 77, said in an interview Friday.
“I think it’s a very desperate bear that thinks they’re food. It’s not interested in their food storage, it’s interested in them,” Teather speculated.
The friend, from Ottawa, Canada, said he had gone on several backcountry canoe trips with Gusse and Inglis over the past 20 years.
“Their skill level is very high, they are conservative. They are taking every precaution they can,” he said.
Teather, also a scientist, said their food had been stored away from the campsite and would be hung on trees. In his last conversation with Inglis, his friend informed him that he had bought a “stockpile of animal-proof food.”
Jenny Gusse and Doug Inglis, both 62, and their dog Skip, seven, were fatally attacked by a bear on September 29 inside Banff National Park after their bear spray failed to deter the hungry animal. Ron Teather Longtime friend Ron Teather, 77 – who went on several canoe trips with the pair over the past 20 years – told The Post Friday that he suspected the “predatory” bears were “very desperate” and “viewed them as food.” He said: “It’s not interested in their food storage, it’s interested in them.” credit Ron Teather
“This food cache is bear-resistant,” Teather said.
Another friend, 69-year-old Mark Goettel — who met Inglis at the University of Alberta where the latter was his research technician — reiterated to The Post that the pair were very skilled and “knew what they were doing.”
“He’s very careful, every time he’s very careful,” Goettel, of Lethbridge, said in a phone interview Friday. “I remember him telling me about camping and how you had to go so far even to pee out of your tent. He would tell me all the safety measures.”
Experienced hikers have shared their full seven-day itinerary with Uncle Colin Inglis from Inglis and keep in touch with him via satellite communication device.
Just hours after informing him that they had been delayed on that fateful night, Colin would receive a troubling message: “Screw it, bad,” he told the Calgary Herald.
Friend Mark Goettel, 69, of Lethbridge told The Post the pair were very skilled and “knew exactly what they were doing.” Ron Teather The experienced hikers shared their full seven-day itinerary with Inglis’ uncle and kept in touch with him via satellite communication device.Peter Adams/Danita Delimont – stock.adobe.com
When rescuers arrived at the couple’s campsite, they found the scientist’s scratched body, an empty can of bear spray, and their e-reader still open inside their crumpled tent.
Rescuers found an underweight female bear they believed had attacked and shot it, as it was still showing signs of aggression.
“In their words, the bear intended to kill them,” Colin told the Herald.
Inglis’ friends remember him as a “very successful scientist” and a “go-getter”, who often cycled to work, wore shorts during the winter and was “very concerned about the environment.”
“[He] very smart,” said Goettel. “He was one of those people who ran. He was that kind of guy.”
When rescuers arrived at the couple’s campsite, they found the scientist’s battered body, an empty can of bear spray, and their e-reader still open inside their crumpled tent. AFP via Getty Images
“Doug is a very persistent scientist,” Teather said. “He was very successful. And Jenny is an excellent technician you can count on. They worked together for most of their adult lives.
Goettel said Inglis was “always” with Jenny and Teather remembers her friends as “very loyal to each other.”
Teather said he will also always remember the “many very pleasant evenings” he spent with the couple after a day of canoeing, talking about work and future plans.
“Just a lot of comfortable nights,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
