Man kills grizzly in Montana after it attacks while he is picking berries

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press

A man picking huckleberries in Montana shot and killed a grizzly bear after it attacked and injured him badly enough that he had to be hospitalized.

The 72-year-old man was alone when the adult female charged him Thursday. He killed the bear with a handgun, according to a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks statement Friday.

The attack happened in Flathead National Forest about 2 miles north of Columbia Falls, a northwestern Montana city of about 5,500 people, according to the state wildlife agency.

Female grizzlies are known to attack to defend their cubs. Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials were trying to determine if this grizzly had any cubs.

The department had no more information to provide Friday, including the identity of the man and his condition, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff shot and killed an adult female grizzly Thursday after it had become accustomed to seeking out food from people and breaking into houses in and around Gardiner, a town of about 800 people just north of Yellowstone National Park.

Pet food, garbage and barbeque grills left outside and accessible to bears contributed to the problem, according to a department statement. No people were hurt by the bear before it was shot in the Yellowstone River.

Wildlife managers often capture and move grizzly bears that are known to cause problems for people. But sometimes they kill ones they deem likely to keep causing problems regardless of being moved.

The Gardiner-area grizzly was killed about 300 miles (500 kilometers) south of the unrelated attack in the Columbia Falls area. An estimated 2,000 grizzlies roam western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, western Montana, while several thousand more inhabit the Canadian Rockies and Alaska.

Grizzly bears in the contiguous U.S. are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.