Olympic hopeful killed by bear

Biathlete Mary Beth Miller found dead at Quebec training site

Peter Hum, with files from Kate Jaimet
The Ottawa Citizen; Citizen News Services

Vincent Fradet, le Soleil / Conservation officer Claude Desrochers displays a cage that will be used to try to trap a black bear that is believed to have mauled and killed biathlete Mary-Beth Miller, near Valcartier, Que. Ms. Miller's body was found Sunday.

Northern News Services Ltd. / Mary Beth Miller, a 24-year-old biathlete from the Northwest Territories, was killed in an apparent bear attack while running on a training course in Valcartier, Que. Her body was found just before midnight Sunday with a bear bite on her neck. Black bear tracks were spotted near her body.

An international-level Canadian biathlete, who inspired youth in the Northwest Territories with her enthusiasm, was found dead and mauled by a bear Sunday after she failed to return from a training run.

Military police at CFB Valcartier, near Quebec City, were alerted Sunday night after Mary Beth Miller, 24, disappeared on a morning run through the woods. Searchers found her body about 800 metres from a main road just before midnight, a bear bite on her neck and bear tracks nearby.

"She was the most precious thing in our lives and we're having a heck of a time here," said Ms. Miller's mother, Mary Carol Miller, from her home in Yellowknife. "She taught us all to live each day, each moment."

Ms. Miller's two brothers and her sister were in Yellowknife yesterday at their mother's house, along with friends and neighbours who lent their support.

"She was full of vitality," Mrs. Miller said. "There are going to be people all over this country who have bumped into her at races and different things, who she's encouraged."

Ms. Miller, who started her run at 9 a.m., was reported missing by her trainer at 11 p.m.

"All the evidences tend to show she was killed by the bear," said Sarah Coup-Fabiano, a spokeswoman for the Haute-St-Charles police department. She said an autopsy would be conducted to clarify whether Ms. Miller was killed by a bear or whether she collapsed, for example of a heart attack, before being attacked.

A bear search was under way yesterday. Ms. Coup-Fabiano pointed out that two cyclists were attacked by a bear on the same path two weeks ago. Permanent signs posted around the site warn athletes not to train alone, but long-distance athletes often have a difficult time finding a training partner. Ms. Miller was found with a headset stereo, which investigators say may have prevented her from hearing the bear.

The base has closed the trails until further notice.

"Yes, it's dangerous," Ms. Bedard said in an interview with LCN, a French-language all-news channel. "But on the other hand, it's the beauty of the sport to be in the forest."

Ms. Miller was born in Kitchener, Ont., and moved with her family to Yellowknife, N.W.T., when she was six. She took up biathlon at age 18 and also loved mountain biking, something she incorporated into her training.

Ms. Miller was the top Canadian at the 1997 World Winter University Games in South Korea. The sport, which combines shooting and cross-country skiing, requires both highly developed skills and cardio-vascular stamina, and athletes usually reach their peak at age 30, said Veli Niinimaa, executive director of Biathlon Alberta.

"At 24, she was still progressing upwards," said Mr. Niinimaa. "She was not quite at the national team level, but just below the national team level."

He said Ms. Miller could have been a contender for Canada's Olympic team and was training full-time to aim for that goal.

"All the plans and financing and support systems were in place for her to focus on training," he said.

Ms. Miller was on the Northwest Territories biathlon relay team that won the bronze medal in junior women's competition at the 1995 Canada Games. She progressed into the women's category and in 1999 won another bronze medal at the Canadian championships.

"At age 23 she was one of the top three in the Canadian championships," Mr. Niinimaa said.

Ms. Miller graduated last year from Augustana University College in Camrose, Alta., where she took part in the college's intensive cross-country skiing program. She spent the past winter racing on the Alberta Cup circuit, and in February she competed in the North American Cup at Salt Lake City. She moved to CFB Valcartier last week for a summer of training at the Miriam Bedard Centre, an area that includes 115 kilometres of running and cycling trails.

Ms. Miller would have frequently seen bears during her time training in Alberta, Mr. Niinimaa said. He said all biathletes who train in the Rockies are briefed by rangers on how to handle bear encounters.

"They see bears on a daily basis."

However, Mr. Niinimaa added, this is the first time he has heard of a bear encounter at the training facility in Valcartier. Although rifle shooting is part of the biathlon, Mr. Niinimaa said Ms. Miller would not have been carrying her rifle during a training run. Even if she had, he said, the .22-calibre rifle would have been useless against a bear.

"It's a feeble rifle. The fur in thick parts would stop a bullet," he said.

The weekend attack has baffled wildlife officials, who say black bears rarely attack humans.

"It's not normal," said Gilles Lamontagne, a biologist with the province's parks and wildlife agency.

While more black bears are often roaming the woods at this time of year in search of mates and to stake out territory, they usually pay little attention to humans unless provoked, said Mr. Lamontagne.

"Often it's the bears that are surprised. People come up on them quickly so they try to react to defend themselves."

News of Ms. Miller's death shocked friends and colleagues in Yellowknife.

"She was so keen and enthusiastic," said Miriam Green, president of the Northwest Territories Biathlon Association.

Ms. Miller held clinics for younger athletes on everything from motivation to in-line skating, Mrs. Green said. In March this year, when young biathletes from the Northwest Territories travelled to a national competition in Valcartier, Ms. Miller picked them up the airport and looked after them until their coach arrived, Mrs. Green recalled.

"She was a very young, very strong-willed person," she said. "We'll miss her, that's for sure."

"She was really friendly and really outgoing -- just a really fun person to be around," said Moira Moser, a fellow biathlete from the Northwest Territories who travelled to South Korea in 1997 with Ms. Miller.

Mrs. Moser said that while in South Korea, Ms. Miller "instantly" made friends with athletes from around the world and kept in touch with them. She said the camaraderie of the sport was its greatest attraction for Ms. Miller.

Black Bears Rarely Attack People

Black bears can bite through trees thicker than a man's arm and kill a full-grown steer with a bite to the neck.

Although they rarely attack humans, and are less ferocious than grizzlies, black bears are not to be treated lightly, as the death of Mary Beth Miller tragically proves.

In his 1985 book Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidance, university of Calgary professor Stephen Herrero reviews bear attacks and killings in North America from 1900 to 1980. In that time span, black bears killed 23 people -- while grizzlies killed about twice that many. Considering that there are half a million black bears in North America, Mr. Herrero concludes, "rarely do black bears use their power to injure or kill people."

Mr. Herrero's research shows it is wild bears, not those accustomed to people, who are more likely to attack, and try to eat, a human.

Mr. Herrero advises those attacked by a black bear not to play dead. Climbing a tree is also not a good option, as black bears are good climbers.

"If a black bear stalks and attacks during the day, a person should try to fight it off using any available weapon. Even young children have fought enough to have deterred potentially fatal black bear attacks," Mr. Herrero writes.

Copyright 2000 Ottawa Citizen