By Canadian Press

U.S. canoeists besieged by grizzly on Northwest Territories canoe trip rescued

Jul 17, 2019 | 12:39 PM

YELLOWKNIFE — Mounties say a pair of American travellers had to rescued from the Northwest Territories wilderness after a grizzly bear destroyed their canoe.

RCMP say they got a report Sunday that two people were stranded near Hanbury Lake, which is about 500 kilometres east of Yellowknife.

The man and woman used a communication device to send their location to the International Emergency Response Coordination Center run by a Texas monitoring company.

The campers then managed to stay clear of the bear until officers with the territory’s Environment and Natural Resources department rescued them by helicopter the next day.

The bear was still threatening the canoeists when help arrived.

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The animal was killed and the campers were safely brought back to Yellowknife.

“The travellers were well prepared and had planned to bring a communication device with them on their trip, which definitely helped them with their misadventure,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Yannick Hamel said in a statement

“We can’t stress enough the importance to be prepared when venturing in the wilderness as anything can happen.”

The Canadian Press