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
I think this is a joke i lived where bear a all around my home and not once did they atempted to harm me or my family i did not feed them and did not alow others on my property just to look at them man create the problem man have alway created the problem with animal that park is for the animals you are a guest in their home not vise versa when some one strange comes into our home we watch them and we sometmes act in aggression its a two way street animals did not ask people to move in with them
people thinking about going into the woods there are wild animals in there that is their home not yours be respectfull i have enconterd many bears in the woods on many ocasions the young males are always going to want to find out what you are if a bear has ever been harmed by a person it may hurt you that is commin sence if some one hurts your dog it won't fogett it and may bite that person or some strange person the next time they enter it's home bears have to fight their whole lives for space for food and even to mate leave them alone stay out of there bubble people create these problems why should the bear pay for mans stupidity my grand mother tells stories of our people who live in peace with the bears and all animals because of respect if some one disrespects you the ods of you defending yourself are high truth be told animals don't just attact they have a fight or flight reflex if a bear is stuck between you and another bears turff you loose i think the truth is the bear scarred the man as it walked out and he shot it if the bear was already being agressive it would have been so pumped up it wouldnt have just ran it would have defended itself not found 100 feet away it sounds and if it was heading in the womans way it would have kept going that way fast not walking and she would atleast been knocked down and why on earth would they be in thick the cover of brush any way that is asking to get hurt niether you nor the bear can see one another untill its to late i feel if they were atacked some one would be hurt there is something lacking in this storry them and the bear would have been in verry close range of each other and no one was hurt but the bear ?
Drive safely in Yellowstone this summer folks. Your chances of being injured are much greater in an auto accident than having a bear encounter. To the 30 hour of training guy....just bring the bear spray and you will be fine.
I worked in the federal government of this country for nearly 30 years. Alot of that time in national parks.
I can tell you for sure that this is not the first shooting of a bear in Denali.
This is the 47th case that I know about. (Yes I have the list.)
Since the new law passed, and appropriately so, this is however just the first time that any erstewhile bear meal has been legally able to formally report that he shot a bear in self defense.
The bear bear was found 100 feet from the shell casings. The hikers walked/ran to a ranger and told him about it. Why did it take 2 days and several overflights before the rangers, who were better armed than the hiker, simply walked back to where the hikers had just come from? What a waste of resources.
Also the hiker did not shoot into the brush. He waited till the bear was charging him.
And look, if the better armed rangers would rather try over-flights to find the bear, and wait 2 days before going RIGHT BACK to where the hiker had been when he told the ranger, then the rangers were a)scared , and rightly so, of a wounded bear, and b) even if the hiker put the second shot into the already wounded bear's back, then he did the right thing.
Animals have the right to defend themselves. If a bear came onto your property you would be threatened. The bear was only defending its home. Humans need to respect other animals. I don't think that humans realize how much animals respect us.
Bears and animals have the RIGHT to live. Humans are animals.
This forum was awesome. I've read the extreme positions of both sides, and everywhere in between. I have been a hunter for 40 years, and will be in Alaska in month visiting Denali NP and other areas of Alaska probably including heavy bear populations. The question I have been waivering back and forth on, is should I or should I not bring my handgun. These two hickers probably accomplished every mistake in the book to get to their situation. Either way, it occured and I'm sure they are wishing they had never made the trip. One comment in the article, was the bear didn't attack the person with the gun, but rather the other one. And I say attack purposely. Had that be me with the gun, and the bear attacking my wife, I would take every means possible to keep harm from my wife. Wether it were a bluff or going to be an actual attack it would look the same. There is not a person in this forum that would have done anything different. So if I were the judge, I'd say "case closed, get out of my courtroom". With that being said, the amount if usable information in the forum is absolutely wonderful. Learning how to handle bears it of utmost necessity prior to entering this great and wonderful park. Training that my wife and myself will both learn prior to arrival. So I may be letting down the gun owners when I say, I'm not brining mine. But I will be well educated, bring a big can of spray, and one big knife. And if the bear doesn't bluff, nor will I. Am I being ignorant. No. I trust the people who work with these animals every day. If they didn't learn how to interact with the bear, then they'd be a bigger threat to the humans then they are, and the bear would truely be gone. We can't be arrogant in these situations. We must be educated. So you ask, why the knife. Well, I'm not giong to be part of the 1% that went down with out a fight. Keep the forum going. There are a million people out there with a million different thoughts. The argument won't get solved, but people will be educated. Hope you all have a great day!