"The tracks alongside the drag marks, and the fact that the drag marks had blood in them probably means that she was alive as they were moving her," Holloway said.
Berner's father says she fought back against her attackers.
"It's hard, it's really hard. I feel horrible, you know, empty," Robert Berner said.
"They said Candice put up a good fight," he said, "and there must have been two, maybe three of them."
"Her left arm was torn mostly off and both her thighs were badly, badly damaged. But her face was untouched and her body was in decent form," he said.
Robert Berner says he was told Candice was most likely attacked from behind.
Troopers and the Department of Fish and Game are coordinating a response and expect to have teams in the village Friday.
"The helicopter and the pilot are going to fly some biologists around to try to either capture or exterminate the wolves that are in that particular area," Holloway said.
But unless the wolves have a disease or rabies, Robert Berner doesn't want the animals to die.
"I don't feel any need for vengeance at all. Candice was a risk-taker, she's fearless…because they hadn't had one other incident in the history of the place she probably felt reasonably safe out there on that trail," he said.
Troopers say a downswing in the caribou herd and the moose population have likely pushed the wolves to the edge.
"I would say any time anyone ventures out into the wilderness, or even at your front door -- because a lot of people live in the wilderness -- is to always be in a position to protect yourself," said wildlife trooper Col. Gary Folger. "Interactions with wildlife can occur at any moment."
Berner, originally from Pennsylvania, lived in Perryville and traveled from town to town as a special education teacher for the Lake and Peninsula School District. She started teaching in Bush Alaska in August.
Chignik Lake is a community of about 105 people on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula, about 475 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Contact Rebecca Palsha at rpalsha@ktuu.com
