Teacher Mauled to Death by Wolves



(Chignik Lake, Alaska) A 32-year-old special education teacher for the Lake and Peninsula School District, Candice Berner, was mauled to death by wolves last Monday as she was out jogging about a mile and a half from town.

Snowmachiners found her remains with evidence that she had been chased for about 150 feet before the wolves took her down.

The state medical examiner concluded, following an autopsy Thursday morning, that the cause of death was "multiple injuries due to animal mauling." Based on interviews with biologists and villagers in Chignik Lake, troopers concluded wolves were the animals most likely responsible, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said in a statement.

The state Department of Fish and Game still wants 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 paw prints around the body, which had been partially predated, and bloody drag marks in the snow, he 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.

Authorities have sent people to capture and kill the wolves responsible. They are being tracked and there have been several sightings.

Too bad she wasn't carrying a pistol.