The territory’s chief coroner has found it was a deflected bullet that killed a woman who died after a grizzly bear mauling in October 2014 near Johnson’s Crossing.

Coroner Kirsten Macdonald released the four-page coroner’s report on the death of Claudia Huber this week.

When a bullet fired by her partner, Matthias Liniger, deflected off a branch, “it strayed from its intended path and fatally injured Ms. Huber,” the report said.

As the report detailed, the bear had come on to Huber’s and Liniger’s property, with the dog’s barking alerting Liniger to the situation.

He went outside when he heard the barking, saw the bear crossing their lawn on the South Canol Highway and alerted Huber to the situation, while also calling the dog inside.

The bear made its way to the home after circling the house, putting its paws on the window, crashing through the glass.

“The bear fell into the home and chased the dog around the living room,” the report reads.

“Ms. Huber and the witness ran outside the house and the dog ran away.

“Ms. Huber got into a Toyota Tundra parked outside the house. The witness got into another vehicle parked next to the Tundra.”

The bear clambered onto the Tundra’s hood and began repeatedly jumping, finally getting off that vehicle to climb onto the vehicle Liniger was in.

“The male occupant started to honk the horn of his vehicle, at which time the bear started to run away,” the report says.

“It is believed that Ms. Huber may have seen the bear running away and took the opportunity to try to get into the vehicle with the witness because she had keys to that vehicle.”

The bear attacked her when she left the vehicle.

Liniger then ran back to the house to get ammunition for his rifle and fired off a warning shot.

“When he returned, the bear had drug Ms. Huber approximately 20 metres across a creek and up onto the opposite bank,” the report reads.

“The bear was on top of Ms. Huber. The witness (Liniger) fired several rounds at the bear, but it was still alive.

“He ran back to the house to get more ammunition. He returned and fired more shots and the bear died.”

Huber had played dead during the attack.

While playing dead is one of many suggested responses to a bear encounter, with the attack being predatory, “it unfortunately wasn’t the correct response in this incident,” the report said.

“A predatory attack requires the victim to fight back against the bear.”

Huber was rushed to the Teslin Community Health Centre and pronounced dead at 12:10 a.m. Oct. 18, 2014.

In the investigation that followed, it was found a tree branch had suffered damage by a bullet, but there was no bullet casing in the branch, “only a clean pathway through the branch with discernible entrance and exit points.”

It was that branch the bullet deflected from.

A necropsy on the bear determined it to be a 38-year-old male in “poor” condition, but not emaciated, weighing 170 kilograms.

It was shot twice, once behind the left side of its chest and once around the right side of the neck.

“The bear had some age-related changes, such as wearing down of teeth,” the report reads.

“There was no evidence at the necropsy of underlying disease that would explain the unusual behaviour exhibited by this grizzly bear.”

Investigators did find a single poker chip stuck in its fur.

It was later learned that sometime in the three weeks before the attack, the bear had ransacked a local hunting camp about 24 kilometres from where Huber and Liniger lived.

“At the hunting camp, the grizzly bear was able to access a significant amount of human food,” the report reads.

“The bear ransacked the cabin, foraging on human food and small animals, causing significant damage. The bear also broke a container of glue and poker chips were found spread about the cabin.

“The poker chips in the hunting camp cabin matched the poker chip stuck to the bear that attacked Ms. Huber.”

Macdonald issued two recommendations in the report, both directed at Environment Yukon:

“1. More education is needed to inform the public about the different types of bear encounters and the appropriate responses for each type of encounter. There appears to be ongoing misinformation in the public, despite efforts to get this message out.

“The public, and perhaps even school children at a young age, need to be educated on what to do if a bear encounter occurs, how to tell the difference between the type of behaviour and what actions should be taken depending on the behaviour and the nature of the encounter.

“2. More education and information is required for hunting camps/cabin owners/rural property owners regarding leaving food and other bear attractants accessible.

“Education regarding closing camps up for the season and the importance of removing attractants both inside and outside cabins is needed.”