A grizzly bear that emerged from a thicket and charged two backpackers in the backcountry of Denali National Park and Preserve was shot and killed by one of the two who was carrying a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, according to park officials.
The killing Friday is believed to be the first instance of a hiker killing a grizzly in the park's wilderness. The killing occurred in the original Mount McKinley National Park portion of the Denali, which was expanded by two-thirds in 1980.
Until February, when Congress changed the rules, it was illegal to carry a loaded firearm in that portion of Denali. While the rule change now allows hikers to carry firearms in all areas of Denali, it still is illegal to discharge them, park officials said.
Park officials did not speculate whether the killing was justified. This is believed to be the first instance of a visitor to a national park killing an animal with a firearm since the gun regulations were changed.
According to a release from the park, the two backpackers, a man and woman, were hiking in dense brush along the edge of Tattler Creek, which is at the west end of Igloo Canyon roughly 35 miles from the park headquarters.
"The man, who was in the lead, drew a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol when they heard a noise coming from the brush. When the bear emerged from the thicket and ran toward the other hiker, he fired approximately nine rounds in its general direction. The bear stopped, turned, and walked back into the brush, where it quickly disappeared from view," said the release.
The two then headed roughly 1.5 miles back to a road, where they encountered a park employee, who called in the incident and took the two backpackers to the Toklat Road Camp. A ranger there did a short preliminary interview with them at approximately 10:00 p.m. Because of the concern that a wounded bear was in the area, four backcountry units were immediately closed, and bus drivers were instructed to not drop off day hikers in the Igloo Canyon on Saturday.
"Early Saturday morning rangers and wildlife technicians flew to Toklat via helicopter to conduct a secondary interview with the two backpackers. Afterwards they flew over Tattler Creek and all of side tributaries, very low at times, to determine if there was an active, wounded bear," the park release said. "No bears were seen during the overflight, and late in the afternoon three rangers hiked into the site. The bear was found dead in a willow thicket approximately 100 feet from the pistol casings at approximately 6:00 p.m.
"The bear’s body was transported via helicopter to a landing site on the park road and brought back to headquarters on Sunday, where park wildlife biologists are assisting with the investigation of the bear carcass. The backcountry units have been reopened."
The case is still under investigation, and the names of the backpackers are not being released at this time. Park wildlife biologists and rangers are trying to determine if there was a justification for shooting the animal.
The estimated grizzly bear population in the park north of the Alaska Range north is 300-350 animals.
Comments
11 years and 31 pages, people really love talking about guns.
Ur so right
If you're not allowed to discharge a firearm in the park, then why have it?
I think your first statement is false. There have been human fatalities caused by bears in Denali. I was backpacking there in 1977, and we were asked to stop hiking and camp at the campground because of a fatal bear attack the previous day. A nature photographer had been hiking by himself when a bear attacked him for apparantly no reason and tore him to shreds. They gave a presentation about it at the campground the next day.
While they said there was no apparent reason for the attack, I believe that it was caused by an encounter I watched the previous day, as a hundred or so tourists chased a Mother grizzly and her two cubs across a meadow at the bus stop midway to the campground. The tourists were trying to get closer to get pictures, and the bear and cubs ran away as fast as they could. I suspect the mother bear was angry at humans in general, and photographers in particular.
I see a ton of comments on waiting for the facts etc. Born and raised Alaska bush guy here: my take is this-the Alaskan backcountry is like no other backcountry and it's all trying to kill you. When you're 200 miles from a gas station and there's no cell coverage for another 400, take chances on what the bear may or may not do become moot-when your personal risk tolerance is exceeded (for me, it's any bear closer than 50 yards) you have to really think about taking the life of a living being. It's no less serious, but in those circumstances, it's certainly less likely to not happen to keep the bear safe.