Autopsy shows teacher in rural Alaska was fatally mauled by animals; officials suspect wolves
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Wolves likely killed a teacher jogging alone along a rural Alaska village road, public safety officials said Thursday.
The Alaska State Medical Examiner listed “multiple injuries due to animal mauling” as the cause of death for Candice Berner, 32, a special education teacher from Pennsylvania who began working in Alaska in August. her body was found off the road a mile outside the village of Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula, which is about 474 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The autopsy could not say which animals, said Col. Audie Holloway, head of the Alaska State Troopers, but wolves are the chief suspect.
“There’s no other carnivores in that area that are out and active,” he said.
Wolves, bears, foxes and other wildlife have disturbed bodies in the Alaska wilderness, but Holloway said the autopsy ruled out other causes that may have killed Berner. Additional tests could tie the death to wolves, Holloway said.
“If we’re able to actually prove which animal, it will be through some kind of DNA analysis or through some expert that can maybe testify or explain how they know that it’s a wolf,” he said.
Troopers have plenty of circumstantial evidence leading them to point the finger at wolves.
“There were wolf tracks all around the body, and drag marks associated with those wolf tracks,” Holloway said.
Tracks indicated more than one wolf was involved.
“From the number of prints at the scene, we’re thinking there probably were, possibly, two, three, maybe four,” Holloway said.
Villagers in the community of 105 residents already were on alert because of wolves running boldly near the community, said Johnny Lind, president of the village council.
Choosing his words carefully Thursday before the autopsy results were announced, Lind said wolf involvement was apparent.
“It’s obvious. Goodness. It’s obvious,” he said, adding that he did not want to elaborate.
Autopsy shows teacher in rural Alaska was fatally mauled by animals; officials suspect wolves
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