DOWNIEVILLE – An autopsy has revealed that a California woman found dead in her Sierra County home in 2023 was killed by a black bear – the first-ever recorded case of such a fatal attack.
Initially, officers from the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home of 71-year-old Downieville resident Patrice Miller on November 8, 2023, to conduct a welfare check. Miller was found dead — and the sheriff’s office said evidence pointed to a suspected encounter with a bear.
At the time, the sheriff’s office said the initial investigation determined Miller had died before the bear entered.
However, on Thursday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife revealed that the autopsy report they recently received confirmed that the bear attack killed the woman.
The Downieville incident is now the first documented fatal black bear attack in California history, CDFW officials said.
Conservationists also revealed that the bear involved in the incident had been trapped and euthanized. DNA analysis was used to confirm it was indeed the same bear, CDFW said.
Bear attacks in California
While human encounters with black bears are becoming increasingly common in California’s high country, reports of people being injured by the animals are extremely rare.
Still, some incidents between bears and people have resulted in serious injuries, such as in 2022, when a North Lake Tahoe woman came face-to-face with a bear in her home.
The increasing number of visitors to California’s bear country, such as the Lake Tahoe region, coupled with carelessness in securing food and trash, is what wildlife experts blame for the spike in bear encounters. Earlier in 2024, it was also noted that a record number of bears had already been evicted from Tahoe buildings.
Downieville is a Sierra Nevada community of fewer than 300 residents, about 60 miles northwest of Truckee.
California is home to only one species of bear: the black bear. Unlike their grizzly bear cousins, the black bear has a more non-confrontational reputation when it comes to human encounters.
