The hiker who blasted a charging grizzly in the Alaskan National Park will not get into any trouble. While it’s legal to carry guns in national parks, it’s illegal to shoot them.

“He turned and drew a .45 caliber semi-automatic weapon from a holster on his waist belt. Within seconds, a large grizzly bear emerged from the brush about 25 feet away and charged the woman,” the officials said. “The man rapidly fired seven to nine rounds at the right side of the bear. The bear stopped several feet from the woman and then moved back into the brush. Both hikers retreated and hiked to the park road, after noting the location on a GPS.”

The investigation found no evidence to contradict the claim that the man was shooting the bear to defend his hiking companion from danger. That’s not exactly the same as saying, “We believe you,” but it’s good enough to get away without anyone going to jail.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 9:31 am and is filed under National Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.