Bear goes after kids hiding under car

Hungry Horse News

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK - A male black bear that sent a family hiding under their car while it went after them was shot and killed by park rangers Sunday.

On Saturday, May 28, John Hayden, of Gillette, Wyo., and his three young sons traveled about 100 yards into the woods at the pullout a half mile south of Avalanche and encountered a black bear. As the family tried to slowly back out of the area, the bear pursued them, park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt said Tuesday.

Hayden tried to distract the bear by throwing a shirt towards it and the bear shredded this shirt. Hayden then struck the bear repeatedly with another shirt, but the bear continued its pursuit. Hayden was not injured and neither were his kids.

His young children, whose ages were not available, hid under the car as the bear swiped at them.

About 30 people witnessed the event, Vanderbilt said. One had pepper spray and sprayed the bear and the bear retreated into the woods.

Park rangers closed the area then saw the bear again later that evening. On Sunday, after consultation a wildlife biologist and bear management specialists the bear was targeted for removal and later it was shot and killed.

"The bear was very habituated to humans," Vanderbilt said, noting that AA bear had been seen in that area for some time, though there was no direct physical evidence the bear had been fed.

The bear weighed 185 pounds and was in apparently in good health. It's carcass will be taken to a state lab for a full necropsy, which would examine the bear for any problems and also look the bear's stomach contents, which would tell if the bear was being fed or getting at human food.

Black bear attacks in Glacier are extremely rare. The last black bear attack was in Two Medicine along the south shore of the lake, where a black bear was eventually destroyed after a man who was hiking beat it away with his keys.

The Park's bear management guideline states that a black bear will be removed and/or destroyed if it receives human food or garbage, displays conditioned and/or habituated behavior towards people, causes property damage, and/or acts overly familiar with humans. The goal of Glacier's bear management policy is to ensure a natural and free-ranging population of both grizzly and black bears. "Given this bear's conditioned, aggressive, and predatory behavior, especially exhibited by swiping under the car, the bear had to be destroyed," said Chief Park Ranger Steve Frye.

The area has since been reopened.

This is the first bear attack in the Park this year. Every year has its fair share of bear incidents. Last year a jogger had his shoe chewed on by a grizzly until he sprayed it with pepper spray.

Bears killing people in the park is a fairly rare event, however.

According to Park documents, the last person killed by a bear in the Park was Craig Dahl, who was killed and eaten by a grizzly family near Scenic Point in Two Medicine.