Alaska officials say woman was likely killed by wolves

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska state troopers on Thursday said a woman found dead in Chignik Lake early this week was most likely killed in a wolf attack, and state authorities are on their way there to try to capture or kill the animals.

Candice Berner, 32, appeared to have been killed Monday evening during a run along a remote road outside the community on the Alaska Peninsula, according to troopers. An autopsy Thursday determined the cause of death was “multiple injuries due to animal mauling,” troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said in a statement.

Based on interviews with biologists and villagers in Chignik Lake, troopers concluded wolves were the animals most likely responsible, she said.

The state Department of Fish and Game wanted to conduct DNA testing to help study the incident, but troopers are convinced it was a wolf attack, troopers director Col. Audie Holloway said.

“We are as close to 100 percent certain as you can be,” Holloway said.

Troopers investigating the scene found many wolf footprints around the body and bloody drag marks in the snow, he said. Berner’s body had been partially predated and had teeth marks on the throat, which was severely damaged and was the likely injury that caused her death, Holloway said.

Investigators were able to conclude after the autopsy that the animal injuries caused the death and were not inflicted post-mortem, he said.

“She was bleeding as she was being moved, being drug, and the damage to the throat,” Holloway said. “The medical examiner concluded that she wasn’t killed by any other method and that the damage to the throat was severe. There were animal bite marks on the throat.

“Wolves, just like big cats, usually attack the windpipe area and try to control the victim that way.”

It appeared the attack was predatory, motivated by wolves wanting something to eat, he said.

Holloway said troopers and Fish and Game biologists were on their way to Chignik Lake on Thursday planning to capture or kill the responsible wolves.

Berner, a 32-year-old special education teacher based in Perryville, was found dead Monday evening by a group on snowmachiners traveling along a road outside Chignik Lake.