Candice Berner, 32, a teacher originally from Pennsylvania, was attacked while out jogging near Chignik Lake in Alaska.

Her badly mauled body was found in a pool of blood by snowmobilers and the State Medical Examiner has said the cause of death was “multiple injuries due to animal mauling.”

There were extensive wolf tracks around her body.

If wolves were the culprits, it would be the first cause of a wolf-related death in 50 years in the US.

Colonel Audie Holloway, of the Alaskan State Troopers, said: "There's no other carnivores in that area that are out and active. There were wolf tracks all around the body, and drag marks associated with those tracks."

She stopped short of concluding that wolves were to blame, however, insisting that DNA tests would confirm their involvement in the teacher's death.

Candice Berner had been teaching in Alaska for only a few months since August.