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DAN JOLING Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Wolves likely killed a teacher jogging alone along a rural Alaska village road, public safety officials said Thursday.

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Candice Berner, Alaska special-education teacher, holds up crab caught on a 2009 outing.

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The Alaska State Medical Examiner listed “multiple injuries due to animal mauling” as the cause of death for Candice Berner, 32, a special-education teacher from Pennsylvania who began working in Alaska in August. Her body was found off the road a mile outside the village of Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula, which is about 474 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The autopsy could not say which animals, said Col. Audie Holloway, head of the Alaska State Troopers, but wolves are the chief suspect.

“There’s no other carnivores in that area that are out and active,” he said.

Alaska wolves, bears, foxes and other wildlife have disturbed bodies, but Holloway said the autopsy ruled out other causes that may have killed Berner. Additional tests could tie the death to wolves, Holloway said.

“If we’re able to actually prove which animal, it will be through some kind of DNA analysis or through some expert that can maybe testify or explain how they know that it’s a wolf,” he said.

Troopers have plenty of circumstantial evidence leading them to point the finger at wolves.

“There were wolf tracks all around the body, and drag marks associated with those wolf tracks,” Holloway said.

Villagers in the community of 105 residents already were on alert because of wolves running boldly near the community, said Johnny Lind, president of the village council.

Choosing his words carefully Thursday before the autopsy results were announced, Lind said wolf involvement was apparent.

“It’s obvious. Goodness. It’s obvious,” he said, adding that he did not want to elaborate.

Since Tuesday, people were not traveling alone, school children were accompanied to school and armed patrols on snowmobiles were looking for wolves, he said.

“Everybody’s kind of staying close to the village,” he said.

Berner was originally from Slippery Rock.