Minnesota woman identified after she was killed by bear on Rainy Lake

Canadian authorities released the name Wednesday of the Minnesota woman who was killed by a black bear on a remote island on Rainy Lake.

Catherine Sweatt-Mueller, 62, of Maple Plain, was at the cabin on Red Pine Island for a family reunion, authorities said. She went outside when she heard her two dogs barking about 6 p.m. Sunday. The dogs, one of them injured, eventually returned to the cabin, but the woman didn't.

Her parents, both in their 80s, called police.

The heavily wooded island is in Canadian waters, about a quarter-mile north of the international border that divides Rainy Lake and about 10 miles northeast of International Falls, Minn.

Officers searched the area and found a yearling bear standing over the woman's body and shot it.

Another yearling and a sow were nearby in the brush, acting aggressively by making noises with their mouths and stomping, said Ontario Provincial Police Constable Jim Davis.

The bear that was killed will be sent to the University of Guelph in Ontario for a necropsy — an animal autopsy — to determine if any health problems caused what officials said was abnormal behavior. Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is leading a search to find the other two bears, according to a written statement from the ministry.

There were no witnesses to the incident so officials there said they don't want to speculate about why the attack occurred.

"Attacks of this nature are extremely rare and our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victim," a ministry spokesperson previously stated.

Sweatt-Mueller's family declined to speak about the incident, asking that the public and media respect the Maple Plain woman's "lifelong pursuit of privacy."

Mary Lynn Smith • 612-673-4788