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http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/8939745/article-No-charges-filed-in-Denali-grizzly-bear-shooting?instance=home_news_window_left_top_3
No charges filed in Denali grizzly bear shooting
by Tim Mowry
FAIRBANKS — The National Park Service will not pursue charges against a hiker who shot and killed a grizzly bear while hiking in Denali National Park and Preserve two months ago.
The man, from North Pole, told park rangers he shot the bear when it charged his girlfriend, also from North Pole, as they hiked up Tattler Creek on May 28.
The park service’s investigation found no evidence to contradict the man’s claim, and physical evidence collected by rangers was consistent with the description of the incident provided by the two hikers, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.
“We can’t say they did anything deliberately wrong,” she said.
The park service did not release the names of the hikers because they were not charged with anything, Fister said.
This is believed to be the first time a visitor to the park has shot and killed a bear in what used to be Mount McKinley National Park, Fister said.
The park was expanded and renamed Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980 as a result of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
The shooting came three months after Congress passed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks, including the original Mount McKinley National Park, the area where the bear was shot.
While a state law in Alaska allows the killing of wildlife in defense of life or property, there is no such federal law. It’s still against the law to actually fire a gun in the part of the park the bear was shot.
But Fister said park officials determined “this was a legitimate defense of life” and decided not to press charges.
According to the hikers’ account of the incident, they were talking as they hiked up Tattler Creek, which is located about halfway along the 92-mile Denali Park Road and is “known to be a pretty brushy, bear-friendly area,” Fister said.
The hikers were 20 to 25 feet apart when the man heard a noise in the brush to his right. He turned and drew a .45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun from a holster on his waist seconds before a large grizzly bear emerged from the brush about 25 feet away.
The bear charged the woman and the man fired seven to nine rounds at the right side of the bar. The bear stopped several feet from the woman and then moved back into the brush.
The hikers retreated and walked 1 1/2 miles back to Denali Park Road, noting the location on a GPS they were carrying. They notified a park employee about the shooting.
The dead bear was found the next day a short distance from the location provided by the hikers. The 434-pound bear was an older male with several pre-existing injuries, including a partly torn-off ear, Fister said.
Neither hiker had much backcountry or Alaska experience, according to park officials, and neither carried bear spray. Both had watched the park’s backcountry and bear safety orientation video and had proper backcountry permits.
Park officials aren’t worried that the shooting two months ago, combined with the new law that allows visitors to carry guns in the park, will lead to more bear shootings, Fister said.
“We hope that it doesn’t happen again,” Fister said. “If it does, it will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
Park officials will still emphasize avoidance rather than the use of bear spray or firearms, Fister said.
“You can’t depend on those,” she said. “We hope people are still going to realize the use of firearms or bear spray is only potentially appropriate in a very last-ditch effort, and they need to take precautions.”
Using a gun against bears can also sometimes backfire, Fister noted.
“If someone doesn’t how to use it well, you can tick an animal off and create a worse situation,” she said.
Fister estimated there are 300 to 350 grizzly bears living in the park north of the Alaska Range.
No charges filed in Denali grizzly bear shooting
by Tim Mowry
FAIRBANKS — The National Park Service will not pursue charges against a hiker who shot and killed a grizzly bear while hiking in Denali National Park and Preserve two months ago.
The man, from North Pole, told park rangers he shot the bear when it charged his girlfriend, also from North Pole, as they hiked up Tattler Creek on May 28.
The park service’s investigation found no evidence to contradict the man’s claim, and physical evidence collected by rangers was consistent with the description of the incident provided by the two hikers, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.
“We can’t say they did anything deliberately wrong,” she said.
The park service did not release the names of the hikers because they were not charged with anything, Fister said.
This is believed to be the first time a visitor to the park has shot and killed a bear in what used to be Mount McKinley National Park, Fister said.
The park was expanded and renamed Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980 as a result of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
The shooting came three months after Congress passed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks, including the original Mount McKinley National Park, the area where the bear was shot.
While a state law in Alaska allows the killing of wildlife in defense of life or property, there is no such federal law. It’s still against the law to actually fire a gun in the part of the park the bear was shot.
But Fister said park officials determined “this was a legitimate defense of life” and decided not to press charges.
According to the hikers’ account of the incident, they were talking as they hiked up Tattler Creek, which is located about halfway along the 92-mile Denali Park Road and is “known to be a pretty brushy, bear-friendly area,” Fister said.
The hikers were 20 to 25 feet apart when the man heard a noise in the brush to his right. He turned and drew a .45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun from a holster on his waist seconds before a large grizzly bear emerged from the brush about 25 feet away.
The bear charged the woman and the man fired seven to nine rounds at the right side of the bar. The bear stopped several feet from the woman and then moved back into the brush.
The hikers retreated and walked 1 1/2 miles back to Denali Park Road, noting the location on a GPS they were carrying. They notified a park employee about the shooting.
The dead bear was found the next day a short distance from the location provided by the hikers. The 434-pound bear was an older male with several pre-existing injuries, including a partly torn-off ear, Fister said.
Neither hiker had much backcountry or Alaska experience, according to park officials, and neither carried bear spray. Both had watched the park’s backcountry and bear safety orientation video and had proper backcountry permits.
Park officials aren’t worried that the shooting two months ago, combined with the new law that allows visitors to carry guns in the park, will lead to more bear shootings, Fister said.
“We hope that it doesn’t happen again,” Fister said. “If it does, it will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
Park officials will still emphasize avoidance rather than the use of bear spray or firearms, Fister said.
“You can’t depend on those,” she said. “We hope people are still going to realize the use of firearms or bear spray is only potentially appropriate in a very last-ditch effort, and they need to take precautions.”
Using a gun against bears can also sometimes backfire, Fister noted.
“If someone doesn’t how to use it well, you can tick an animal off and create a worse situation,” she said.
Fister estimated there are 300 to 350 grizzly bears living in the park north of the Alaska Range.
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