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An elderly couple who went missing in Canada are thought to have been mauled to death in a bear attack after police found two bodies.
Jay and Deb MacDonald, both retired and in their 70s, had gone on a fishing trip and were staying at a cabin near McTavish Lake, Saskatchewan, when they stopped answering their phones.
Relatives contacted the police, who began searching the area for the pair.
Two people have now been found dead, but they have not been formally identified as the missing couple.
Deb’s brother, Donjames LeBlanc, said his sister had visited him just before the couple went on their trip.
‘They were going to go up and do a little fishing and so on,’ he told CBC. ‘They didn’t respond to calls that we forwarded to them, so [the family] contacted the police.’
He claims police found Jay ‘lying by the lakeshore dead’ before finding his sister’s body in the woods near the cabin.
The couple had previously mentioned to him that there were large numbers of black bears in the area.
Mass was held for the couple on Thursday.
Canada’s Ministry of Community Safety confirmed on Friday that a bear had been involved in the couple’s deaths.
Conservation officers were sent in to euthanise a bear thought to have been responsible.
It will now be transported to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine for a necropsy.
McTavish Lake is a remote lake located around 55 miles north of the nearest large town, La Ronge. It is only accessible by plane.
Man’s heartbreaking final message to dad shortly before being killed by bear
A heartbroken father has revealed the touching final message his son sent him shortly before he was mauled to death by a bear.
Anthony Pollio, 33, left his father Arthur Pollio a voicemail saying ‘I love you’ as he recounted his adventures in the Glacier National Park in Montana, USA.
The 33-year-old was last heard from that evening while conducting a solo hike along the park’s Mountain Brown Trail.
This lack of contact sparked a large-scale search on May 4.
Anthony’s body was later found with ‘injuries consistent with a bear encounter’.
Arthur revealed that in the voicemail, his son was out-of-breath after hiking in the wilderness.
Arthur told NBC6 TV station: ‘He said: “Dad, I’m hiking up a mountain. It’s wild out here”.
‘He says, “I love you, dad,” and that was the last message I received from him.’
Anthony lost contact with his family that evening, prompting them to contact the National Park Service.
They began a large-scale search across the park, which spans more than a million acres and is home to nearly 1,000 black and grizzly bears.
Search teams later found some of the Florida resident’s personal items in a ‘densely wooded area’ before his body was discovered 50ft (15m) from a mountain trail.
It is the first bear-related death in Montana since 1998.
Exactly how the attack happened and the sequence of events leading up to it remain ‘under investigation’, the park said in a statement.
It added that, at this stage, the ‘evidence suggests that this was a surprise encounter’.
‘The section of trail where the incident occurred has been temporarily closed while the investigation continues,’ its statement continued.
‘Park staff are working to determine next steps based on field assessments and wildlife behaviour monitoring.’
Arthur told WLPG Local 10 that Anthony was an experienced hiker and a ‘fearless man’.
‘He was an educated man and the bear just attacked him and killed him,’ he added.
Anthony’s brother Nicholas said that Anthony had only intended to hike for a few miles in daylight to watch the sunset before returning.
While on the walk, they believe he was attacked by a grizzly bear, which can weigh up to 800lbs (360kg), stand up to 8ft tall (2.5m), and are widely considered to be more aggressive than black bears.
‘I believe he was probably accosted by the bear. Used the bear spray. He might have ran from there,’ Arthur said.
‘I think the bear may have chased him down, (and) grabbed him by the shoulder.’
Before his death, Anthony studied hospitality at the University of Central Florida and worked as a service advisor at McKibben Powersports in Florida.
In his spare time, he volunteered as a deacon at his church, was passionate about animals and enjoyed water sports, driving ATVs, and racing cars.
‘His life experiences in 33 years, some people don’t get to do until they’re 90 or their whole life,’ Arthur said.
Metro has contacted the National Park Service for more information.
