Bear Kills Worker at Remote Uranium Exploration Camp

A 27-year-old man who'd taken contract work at a remote uranium exploration camp in northern Saskatchewan was fatally mauled by a black bear Friday evening, in what experts call an exceptionally rare type of attack for the province. The worker, who came to Canada from India three years ago, was at the Zoo Bay property, a UraniumX Discovery Corp. site roughly 530 miles northeast of Saskatoon, when the bear attacked. A civilian on site shot and killed the animal, which has been sent to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon for a necropsy. CBS News reports all operations have been paused at the Zoo Bay site.

Douglas Clark, a human–bear conflict specialist at the University of Saskatchewan, tells the CBC this is just the fourth recorded fatal bear attack in Saskatchewan and indicated the weather could make it more perilous to be outside right now. "It's a very light spring," he said. "There's still a lot of snow on the ground up there. That means any bears coming out of their dens are going to have slimmer pickings than usual." Indeed, the CBC notes the provincial government put out a press release on the day of the attack reminding residents to take precautions as bears are exiting their dens right now. Authorities are again urging people in bear country to carry bear spray, keep their distance, and back away slowly if they encounter one.