Anchorage, Alaska



From Anchorage‘s KTUU.com of September 23, 2004

Dog-walker shoots brown bear on Fort Richardson



Picture this -- a 750-pound brown bear in full charge, just feet away. You have just a fraction of a second to react, and your life depends on it.



That’s exactly the situation an East Anchorage man found himself in Thursday afternoon while taking his dog for a walk.



In the front yard of Gary Boyd’s house, a crowd gathers. The conservation piece -- a massive brown bear hide stretched across his lawn. Just a couple of hours earlier, that bear was alive -- and not far from Boyd’s house -- on Fort Richardson.



Boyd was walking his dog on a nearby road when he heard something big coming through the brush. He instinctively drew his weapon -- a .44-caliber handgun.



“When he broke into the open at a full run, he was at about 20 feet from me and that's when I fired the first round,” Boyd said. “And then he didn't turn and I shot a second time at about 15 feet and that turned him to the right, and then I shot him three more times.”

…

Boyd says it’s fortunate the way it worked out, because shortly after he shot the bear a group of high school cross country runners passed by that very spot.



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