A longtime Alaskan says his dog probably saved his wife's life after a young grizzly bear charged her Sunday night by their home in the Eagle River canyon, near the nature center.
Michael Weiman, 64, scared the bear off with warning shots, then, when it returned, he shot and killed the bear, Anchorage police said.
Weiman said his wife, Marianne Hamilton, was walking their 10-year-old boxer, Mojabe, on an abandoned airstrip that's part of their property on Bear Ridge Circle. It's an area of big lots where homeowners are used to seeing a lot of wildlife, including moose and grizzly bears, he said. They had seen a bigger grizzly earlier in the day on Sunday.
That evening, they were enjoying the sunshine. Around 9 p.m., Hamilton went to walk the dog.
"The dog stopped and wheeled around. Marianne turns around, and here comes a bear," Weiman said.
It was on the airstrip, in the open. Its ears were back, and it was coming at her, he said. "She kept remarking about the eyes, the eyes. The eyes were big and coming," Weiman said.
He heard her screaming, grabbed his .44 pistol, ran outside and saw the boxer "intervene and cut the bear off." Hamilton ran behind a pickup truck. The dog chased the bear across the road.
The bear turned toward the dog, and Weiman fired three shots into the ground next to the bear, each one closer, as he tells the story.
"Over the hill it went," he said. But as soon as they all got inside, the bear was back.
"The words I said were 'Hell no,' and I grabbed my .30-30," Weiman said.
He fired. "Very swiftly it was done and I'm not sorry," he said.
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