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A couple killed in a bear attack in Canada’s Banff National Park had been identified by their family as a longtime, outdoorsy partner.

Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62, were killed by a grizzly bear Friday while camping in the backcountry.

Authorities said the bear that attacked them was an older female who had low body fat levels for this time of year.

Two bear sprays were found at the scene, they were added and the couple’s food was hung up appropriately.

The couple was identified by their nephew, Colin Inglis, who told CBC that the two men were on the fifth day of a week-long trip into the backcountry when they were killed.

“They were a couple who loved each other and loved the outdoors. And they were very, very experienced in the backcountry, whether it was serious hiking or canoeing, whitewater canoeing in the North Country,” Mr. Inglis said.

Doug and Jenny were from Lethbridge, Alta., a town about 250 km (155 miles) south of Calgary, and had been together since high school, Mr. Inglis said.

They were hiking in the backcountry with their dog, who was also killed in the attack.

The couple gave daily updates on their backcountry trip, Mr. Inglis said, using a GPS device called Garmin inReach.

On the day of the attack, the couple said they did not reach the planned campsite, but found another location to set up camp. Later that evening, they sent out another alert.

“The message said, ‘The bear attack is bad,'” Inglis told the CBC.

Parks Canada said it received a similar alert from the couple on Friday around 8:00 p.m. local time (02:00 GMT).

A human wildlife attack response team was immediately deployed, but had to travel to the site on foot because weather conditions made traveling by helicopter impossible.

The response team arrived around 1 a.m. local time, officials said. They found the couple dead at the scene, as well as a grizzly bear “displaying aggressive behavior” nearby.

The bear was shot on site by Parks Canada “to ensure public safety.”

In an update released Tuesday, officials said the couple was in a permitted area that did not have an active bear warning.

An autopsy of the bear revealed that it was an older, non-lactating female, believed to be over 25 years old.

Her teeth were in poor condition and the bear had less body fat than normal for this time of year.

“The incident occurred in a wild and remote location and there were no witnesses,” Parks Canada said in its update.

“We will never know the full details of what led to the attack and will not speculate. This incident is a tragedy and our condolences have since been extended to the families of the victims.”

Officials added that fatal bear attacks are extremely rare. Over the past ten years, three non-fatal “surprise” encounters with grizzly bears have been recorded in Banff National Park.

The couple’s death is the first death of a grizzly bear in the park in decades, Parks Canada said.

But it is the second this year in North America. In July, a grizzly bear fatally mauled a woman on a forest trail west of Yellowstone National Park.

According to Reuters, only 14 percent of grizzly bear attacks are fatal, but as more people head outdoors, encounters between humans and bears are increasing.

Following the Banff National Park attack, authorities closed an area around the Red Deer and Panther valleys.