The agricultural research community in Lethbridge is facing the tragic loss of a couple who were partners in many things — the laboratory, their enjoyment of the outdoors and in life.
Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62, were killed Sept. 29 by a grizzly bear while on a back-country camping trip in Banff National Park.
The pair worked together as researchers at Agriculture Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre where their colleague Tim McAllister described the facility as feeling the loss of their workmates.
“People are walking around in a state of shock right now because (Doug) was one of the most active scientists at the centre and those rooms are all empty now,” said McAllister. “It’s just like, ‘where are these people?’ and they are just gone. People are shocked and just trying to deal with the situation. It’s a pretty sad place.”
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McAllister described the couple as working hand-in-hand in their research.
“They were a team,” said McAllister. “Jenny was the one in the lab running things and keeping things moving and Doug was the idea guy….They worked together in the lab and they really loved the outdoors as well. They spent a lot of time together, more than what most couples would do for sure.”
McAllister said the two were both from Alberta, shared a passion for agriculture and had known each other for the vast majority of each other’s lives.
“They worked in a lot of different areas,” he said, adding research topics studied in the lab ranged from biological grasshopper control and microbiology to bacterial-caused ailments in many livestock species, as well as human diseases.
“They were a formidable team when it came to science.”
The couple also left a legacy in the training of countless students over the years, said McAllister.
“Many of those students are out now occupying various positions in industry, academia and government. They were definitely well known for the quality of the work they did,” he said.
McAllister said the couple were getting ready for retirement, had bought a van to take them on backcountry adventures and planned to spend a lot more time in the outdoors together.
“It’s just such a tragedy that their lives were cut short like that,” he said.
Dan Johnson, University of Lethbridge professor of environmental science, also remarked on the meticulous nature the pair shared when it came to research as well as when it came to being prepared when travelling in the backcountry.
“Both were friendly but hardworking people,” said Johnson. “I know Jenny was quite respected in the lab and I knew Doug from his research work, which was exceptionally good.”
Johnson said he was a member of Inglis’s PhD committee, “and yet, he surpassed my scientific output.”
He said he worked with Inglis on trying to find biological controls to replace insecticides.
But Johnson remarked that Inglis went on to research many topics.
“He is what we all try to do and that is to have three or four different topical careers,” he said.
The research the couple left will leave a lasting legacy, said Johnson.
“It will always have kind of an echo and value,” he said.
Like McAllister, Johnson said the tight-knit Lethbridge agricultural research community was shocked by the news of the couple’s death.
“But we all knew immediately that this was just a terrible, unanticipated accident because they definitely knew what they were doing out there. They followed all the rules, they took all the precautions and they were good at it. They are the kind of people who don’t make big mistakes,” he said.
Parks Canada says the couple had properly stored food, had been carrying bear spray — which had been discharged — and had been carrying a GPS device that alerted park staff they were in distress.
The couple had been travelling near the mountain headwaters of the Red Deer River at the time of the incident with their dog, which was also killed in the attack.
The female bear was determined to have been 25 years old and not in the best shape. It was overly aggressive and Parks Canada staff euthanized the animal on site.
Service details for the couple have not yet been released.
