# Geologist survives bear mauling near Alaska Range lodge



## gonefishn (Jan 28, 2010)

A geologist who was mauled by a bear near Rainy Pass Lodge is reported in fair condition at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

KTUU-TV reports 54-year-old Bob Miller was attacked Sunday afternoon as he was walking to a helicopter picking up a Millrock Exploration survey crew. The lodge is 125 air miles northwest of Anchorage in the Alaska Range.
Lodge owner Steve Perrins helped provide first aid.
"He stayed conscious with us the whole time, was coherent, even had a sense of humor a couple times, which is pretty tough to do because he was in rough shape," Perrins said. "It was good. It was the perfect scenario for something like that to stabilize someone until we could get him in the medevac."
Tony Kavalok with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says Miller tried to defend himself.
"He was charged by the bear -- he had a .357 Magnum revolver, fired at the bear," Kavalok said.
It's unknown if the bear was hit. Perrins and others couldn't find it Monday.

"There had been a sow and yearling cub spotted by one of the crew members," said Kavalok.​


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

There sure has been a whack of bear attacks this year, the worst blunder was the one in Cody, Wyoming where the wild life branch released a grizzly in the park but forgot to check if there were any people in the immediate area, the groggy bear came upon a fellow in his 70's who was out for a hike on the trail and was killed, they located the bear the next day and shot it. So someone is in the hot seat over that blunder!!!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Yikes !! I can't imagine that they would be that careless. When I go into bear country I carry something bigger than a .357, I know it's capable of killing a bear but so is a .22 for god sakes. I think thats why S&W came out with the 7 shot .357 so you would have one left for yourself after the first six didn't do it.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

You would think that someone would have the common sense to check the area out before a release. Perhaps they did ? Either way remote releases sound like a better way or into a closed area ?


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

On a call said:


> You would think that someone would have the common sense to check the area out before a release. Perhaps they did ? Either way remote releases sound like a better way or into a closed area ?


 Thats what do up here on releases, But being a Park they should have checked, there first statement they said they never thought of it, that was retracted real quick cause of the repercussions, then they had and or made up other reasons why it happened, then they said maybe it wasn't the drugged bear, with all the flak they decided to shoot the collared bear. Lawsuits?


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

youngdon said:


> Yikes !! I can't imagine that they would be that careless. When I go into bear country I carry something bigger than a .357, I know it's capable of killing a bear but so is a .22 for god sakes. I think thats why S&W came out with the 7 shot .357 so you would have one left for yourself after the first six didn't do it.


 Actually the worlds record was held for many years by a native lady up north somewhere that shot a grizzly with a 22 on her trap line I believe!!


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

Gotta love those bunny cops---someone buys a piece of paper from a collage and then they think they know everything.


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

Here's the follow on the Cody Grizzly story.

CODY, Wyo. - A grizzly bear linked by DNA to the killing of a man outside Yellowstone National Park has been tracked down by helicopter and shot dead.
Chris Servheen, grizzly bear coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the bear was found Saturday by trackers following a signal from a radio collar that had been placed around the bear's neck.
The bear died about 2 miles from where the body of 70-year-old Erwin Frank Evert's mauled body was found Thursday. Evert had been hiking near his cabin in the Kitty Creek drainage, east of Yellowstone.
The bear had been trapped and tranquilized a few hours before the attack. Servheen said they decided to kill the bear because it was unclear whether it had some unnatural form of aggression.
Servheen said bears attacking humans as part of their natural aggression, such as protecting their young, aren't automatically hunted down and killed.
"We felt that we couldn't be sure. We wanted to err on the side of the public so we removed the bear,'' he said.
DNA obtained from bear's saliva found at the scene of the mauling matched that of the bear that was killed Saturday, Servheen said.
"We have documented that bear that was killed was the bear that killed the individual,'' Servheen said.
Chuck Schwartz, head of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team based in Bozeman, Mont., said Friday there would be an investigation into whether required procedures were followed, such as posting warning signs about the grizzly research.
Grizzly bears have been back on the federal list of threatened species since last year.

I used to guide in the Kitty Creek drainage in the "70's" and the bears in that area were always a pain in the butt at night in the camps.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Oh i am sure there are going to be a lawsuit over it


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## ebbs (Feb 7, 2010)

youngdon said:


> Oh i am sure there are going to be a lawsuit over it


I can almost guarantee somebody's gonna get hung out to dry on this one. It seems very evident that someone tampering with a bear will create aggression and ill will in the bear towards humans, which would be amplified by the bear's semi-conscious state as it emerges from the sedatives.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

As well they should. It's hard to believe that there isn't some sort of procedure in place for the release of a problem animal. Maybe there is and someone just dropped the ball, heck our criminal justice system does it all the time.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

If you read between the lines ,they are still beating around the bush, we did DNA on the bear and it matches from the kill area, save the expense, it was the only bear in the area, we wanted to err on the side of the public, gimme a break- they screwed up but won't admit it, thank goodness there wasn't a few other bears around or they would have been shot for being in their own habitat!!!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Too bad we don't exhibit the same type of justice on our rapists and murderers. You know those that made a conscious decision rather than following instinct.


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