Hiker-Bear Incident Investigation Continues

Date: July 28, 2014
Contact: Denise Germann, 406 888 5838

An investigation regarding a hiker-bear incident that happened in Glacier National Park on Saturday, July 26, is ongoing. The Mt. Brown Lookout Trail remains closed for investigation purposes. Park personnel are monitoring the area for a bear that is believed to be injured as a result of the incident. Park visitors are encouraged to report any sighting of an injured bear to a nearby park ranger or visitor center. Routinely, park visitors are encouraged to notify a park ranger of any bear sighting within the park.  

Park visitors are encouraged to carry, and know how to properly use, bear spray as a deterrent for a charging grizzly bear. No single deterrent is 100 percent effective, but compared to all others, including firearms, proper use of bear spray has proven to be the best method for fending off threatening and attacking bears, and for preventing injury to the person and animal involved.

Visitors are allowed to carry a firearm in Glacier National Park. Federal law, as of 2010, allows the carrying of firearms within national parks and wildlife refuges consistent with state law. Although visitors are allowed to carry firearms, it is illegal to discharge a firearm in Glacier National Park. An investigation of this incident is ongoing.

Glacier National Park is home to grizzly and black bears. Hikers in the park are encouraged to hike in groups, stay on designated trails, carry bear spray that is easily accessible, and make noise at regular intervals along the trail. Bears spend a lot of time eating, so hikers should be extra alert while in or near feeding areas such as berry patches, cow parsnip thickets, or fields of glacier lilies. Hiking early in the morning, late in the day, or after dark is not encouraged. Trail running is not recommended as it has led to surprise bear encounters. For more information about recreating in the park, visit https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/bears.htm.

 
Background-
At approximately 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 26, park dispatch received notification from a park volunteer backcountry ranger of a hiker-bear incident on the Mt. Brown Lookout Trail, on the west side of the park. Initial investigation indicates that a 57-year old hiker from Texas was hiking alone on the Mt. Brown Lookout Trail when a bear charged him from an area below the trail. The hiker deployed his canister of bear spray and then discharged one round of his handgun. It is believed the bear was wounded, and ran away. The hiker then turned around and quickly hiked back to the trailhead, warning other hikers on the trail of the incident. The hiker met a park volunteer backcountry ranger on the trail, and the ranger notified park dispatch of the situation. The hiker received no physical injuries.

Park rangers immediately closed the trail and initiated an investigation. They staffed the trailhead to communicate the situation to other park visitors and began a search for the bear. Park rangers and bear specialists hiked from the trailhead, and were transported via helicopter to the summit of Mt. Brown, to investigate and search for the bear. It is unknown if the bear was a grizzly or black bear, but evidence indicates the bear was wounded.