Empty Bear Spray Canister Found at Scene of Bear Attack that Killed Couple and Their Dog in Banff

A family member of a couple killed last Friday by a grizzly bear in Canada's Banff National Park said the team that found the two also discovered an empty can of bear spray and indications they had tried to scare off the hulking animal. 

The park officials said the bodies of the backcountry campers — Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62 — were found outside the tent, which had been crushed with their e-readers inside.

"There was a struggle and the struggle didn't stay in one place," Colin Inglis told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about the deaths of his nephew Inglis and Gusse. 

He said the tragic attack on the couple from Alberta, experienced campers and hikers, was a case of "wrong place at the wrong time." 

He said that once night fell Inglis and Gusse would typically crawl into the tent with their dog and read. 

Their dog was also killed. 

"We believe that's what they were doing," the uncle said. 

Inglis said the couple, long-time partners, usually trekked through the park in Canada's Rocky Mountains, twice a year, usually in the spring and the fall.

Inglis and Gusse kept family members aware of their week-long hike, but that day they said they hadn't reached the site they wanted and were setting up camp elsewhere, Colin Inglis said. 

"They were probably making dinner and they were letting us know that they were OK," Inglis told the publication. Then later that night, he received an SOS message from the couple's Garmin GPS tracker.

"The message said, 'Bear attack bad,'" Inglis said.

He said Parks Canada also got an alert from another GPS device around 8 p.m. about a bear attack.

"That night was a start, obviously, of what's continuing to be a grieving process. You have that notification, you know that something bad is happening. You don't have a lot of information," Inglis said. 

The bear was found nearby and euthanized.