It was inevitable. We all knew it would happen as soon as visitors were allowed to carry guns in National Parks. We now have the first resulting fatality.
On May 28 the first shooting incident in a National Park since federal law was changed to allow visitors to carry firearms occurred. A not yet identified man shot and killed a Grizzly in Denali National Park while backpacking with a companion. This is the first known instance of a grizzly bear being shot in the wilderness portion of the park by a visitor.
But, it's no coincidence this first shooting occurred only after guns were allowed in the Park.
There are an estimated 300-350 grizzly bears in Denali. Encounters between humans and Grizzly bears are not uncommon. Seeing bears is one of the reasons folks hike in Denali. Back country hikers are required to view an orientation video to alert them to the risk of Grizzly encounters and to advise them how to respond. The Denali website reflects the advice given in this video:
If You Encounter a Bear
* Running may elicit a chase response. Bears can run faster than 30 mph (50 km/hr). You cannot outrun them. If the bear is unaware of you, detour quickly and quietly away. Give the bear plenty of room, allowing it to continue its activities undisturbed. BACK AWAY SLOWLY IF THE BEAR IS AWARE OF YOU! Speak in a low, calm voice while waving your arms slowly above your head. Bears that stand up on their hind legs are not threatening you, but merely trying to identify you.
* SHOULD A BEAR APPROACH OR CHARGE YOU—DO NOT RUN, DO NOT DROP YOUR PACK! Bears sometimes charge, coming within ten feet of a person before stopping or veering off. Dropping a pack may encourage the bear to approach people for food. STAND STILL until the bear moves away, then slowly back off.
* IF A GRIZZLY MAKES CONTACT WITH YOU, PLAY DEAD. Curl up into a ball with your knees tucked into your stomach and your hands laced around the back of your neck. Leave your pack on to protect your back. If the attack is prolonged, fight back vigorously.
In short, if you meet a Grizzly, the correct response is to (1) talk to the bear while waving your arms slowly and backing away, (2) be prepared for the bear to bluff charge, but stand still if it does, and (3) only fight back if the Grizzly makes actual contact you.
No one can dispute that Grizzlies are dangerous animals, but many hikers in Denali have encountered them and endured bluff charges. There has never been a human fatality caused by a bear in Denali National Park. There have only been a few instances where bears have actually made physical contact with hikers in Denali. And no bear has ever been killed by a human in Denali.
But that was before the change in gun laws.
Last Friday a man with a gun shot and killed a Grizzly. According to a press release issued by Denali, this is what happened:
Two backpackers, a man and woman, encountered a grizzly bear Friday evening while hiking in the dense brush along the edge of Tattler Creek, which is at the west end of the Igloo Canyon, approximately 35 miles from park headquarters. The man, who was in the lead, drew a pistol when they heard a noise coming from the brush. When the bear emerged from the thicket and ran toward the other hiker, the man fired approximately nine rounds in its general direction. The bear stopped, turned, and walked back into the brush, where it quickly disappeared from view.
The backpackers ran and hiked approximately 1-1/2 miles back to the road, where they encountered a National Park Service employee, who called in the incident to the park’s communication center and transported them to the Toklat Road Camp. A ranger based there did a short preliminary interview 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. Later that morning they flew over Tattler Creek and all of side tributaries, very low at times, to determine if there was an active, wounded bear. No bears were seen during the overflight, so 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. Biologists will have a necropsy performed.
Based on this account, what we have here is a case of an itchy trigger finger. If the shooter drew his gun when he heard a noise in the bushes then he was not doing what the Denali orientation advised him he was supposed to do in the first place. Instead of detouring or backing away, the shooter was preparing for confrontation. He was thinking with his gun, not his head.
If the shooter fired at the bear when it charged, he was not doing what the Denali orientation advised him to do. He was not staying still, talking to the bear, trying to defuse the situation. He wasn't even trying to scare the bear. He was shooting to kill when the apparent threat may only have been a bluff charge.
And a Grizzly paid the price.
So what to do?
The Denali press release states:
The case is still under investigation, and because rangers are trying to determine if a criminal act took place, the names of the backpackers are not being released at this time. It is legal to carry a firearm in the original Mt. McKinley portion of the park, but it is not legal to discharge it. The federal government does not have a "defense of life and property" statute, but can assimilate state law if applicable.
Interestingly, a jury last week convicted a man for shooting a Grizzly in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park even though the shooter claimed self-defense. It provides useful guidance as to what should happen here:
Mark Bruscino, bear management program supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, testified at the trial about how bears act before they attack a person and told jurors that most often bruins will retreat during an encounter.
"This whole thing adds up to that people need to make sure they are in a self-defense situation," Bruscino said in an interview after the trial. "You can’t kill wildlife based on an undemonstrated fear of an unrealistic threat."
...
In their verdict, jurors seemed to acknowledge that Westmoreland had no malicious intent when he killed the animal. But they were convinced he was not defending himself from a real threat.
"Under the circumstances, we feel the defendant acted out of fear instead of self-defense," the verdict said.
The case shows we need to understand the best ways to avoid conflicts with and defend ourselves from grizzly bears," Weichman said. "We need to understand when we’re in danger and when we’re not. What we need to do, especially if we’re carrying firearms, is understand grizzly bears if we’re in grizzly country."
"Just killing a grizzly bear because it scares you is not going to fly," he said. "That’s the message of this case."
The conviction is important given a new rule in national parks that allows loaded firearms under some circumstances, Weichman said.
"We are possibly stepping into a new era of grizzly bear management brought to us by an increase in the grizzly bear population and an increase in armed backcountry users," he said. "The obvious application of this case is in the national parks."
It is probably unrealistic to expect Congress or the Obama Administration to change course on allowing guns in National Parks based on this one incident. But it is not unrealistic to expect prosecutors to throw the book at those who fire guns in National Parks. Potential shooters need to get message that if they pull their gun they'll likely end up in jail. Accordingly, I strongly urge all of you to contact Denali National Park and express your support for the prosecution of this shooter:
By Mail
Denali National Park
P.O. Box 9
Denali Park, AK 99755-0009
E-mail
By Phone
907-683-2294
By HQ-Teletype for the Deaf/Hearing Impaired (TTY)
907-683-9649
By Fax
907-683-9617
There is no reason for a hiker to ever shoot a Grizzly. According to Bruscino, "a grizzly that encounters a human will flee 99 percent of the time." Hikers who follow the guidelines for bear encounters should be safe, and in extreme cases hikers can use bear spray and bear flares for defense. But, there's no reason to shoot. If shooters aren't prosecuted, we risk turning our National Parks into shooting galleries and, next time, it may not be a bear that gets killed.