Sask. father describes being on phone with daughter during fatal bear attack

A Saskatchewan family is in mourning after a fatal bear attack in northern Saskatchewan last week.

Stephanie Blais, 44, was killed on Thursday after a black bear attacked her outside the family cabin at McKie Lake, near Buffalo Narrows.

Blais’ father, Hubert Esquirol, told 650 CKOM he was on the phone with his daughter at the time of the attack.

“Stephanie and I were talking over her satellite phone,” he said.

“She called me to tell me that the waterline hadn’t been working and that her husband had fixed it. She then told her son, Eli, to run inside and grab an antenna.”

Esquirol said those were the last things he heard his daughter say, and soon after he heard distorted gurgling sounds over the phone.

“I stayed on the line for a few minutes before I hung up and tried calling again,” he said. “The sounds were very disturbing. An attack crossed my mind but attacks are one in a million.”

Esquirol got a call from Blais’ husband Curtis less than 10 minutes later.

“He called me and told me that Stephanie had been attacked by a bear. The bear wouldn’t let go so he shot the bear until it let go,” Esquirol said.

“He then proceeded to give her CPR but she had no pulse.”

Esquirol said Blais’ nine-year-old son Eli witnessed the attack from inside the cabin.

Bears have always been around, but Esquirol said they’ve never had any trouble with them before.

An aerial shot of the family cabin near McKie lake. (Hubert Esquirol/Submitted)

“We never leave any food around, we have never given them a reason to stay. There has never been any provoked bears or any that seemed angry. They would always run off,” he said.

Esquirol spends a lot of time at the cottage himself, including just one week before his daughter arrived.

He said a conservation officer told him the bear was unprovoked in the attack.

“Stephanie would have been in the bears’ sight. She had her back turned. She didn’t see it,” Esquirol said.

He said the conservation officer told the family the bear was not hungry. The bear’s stomach was found full of blueberries.

The cabin that the Blais family stayed at in northern Saskatchewan. (Hubert Esquirol/Submitted)

Esquirol said there was nothing else that could have been done.

“Curtis (Blais’ husband) handled the situation extremely well,” he said.

“It could have been so much worse. The children could have been near her at the time of the attack.”

Esquirol spoke very highly of his daughter, saying she was well respected and loved by many.

“Stephanie’s mother had a very good heart, she inherited that heart. Everyone always commented on how soft, generous and kind she was. She was an amazing mother.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to provide support for Curtis and their children.