Jack Hanna is an animal expert who can be routinely seen on television shows shoving snakes and other creepy crawlies into the hands of apprehensive TV hosts. Occasionally he brings along something cute like a tiger cub, but let’s face it – the less cuddly animals make for more entertaining television.
However, while on a hike with his wife on vacation in Montana Saturday, Jack Hanna proved that he was more than a that guy in a beige zoo-keeper suit when he took on a wild grizzly bear and lived to tell about it.
Jack reportedly always carries pepper spray with him while hiking, and used it to fend off the 125 lb male bear cub who tried to assert his dominance. When the bear charged, Jack used his pepper spray. The bear kept coming, making it to within 10 ft of Jack and his wife, however Jack said, “then the third time I unload that pepper spray right in his face.” The bear turned and fled.
Jack and his wife were returning from Grinnell Glacier via a narrow trail with a cliff on one side, and a steep drop on the other, the Daily Caller reports. “We thought of letting them go by, but the trail was cut into the rock and was to narrow,” Hanna recalled. The group stood against the wall while a mother grizzly and her cub passed by. The second cub charged toward them.
Coincidentally, Hanna just recently filmed a message for the National Park Service to encourage hikers to carry pepper spray, insisting that it doesn’t do serious harm to the animals. Jack has been carrying pepper spray for 15 years – Saturday was the first time he’s had to use it.
I want everyone to be aware that neither mace nor pepper spray was used to deter this bear.
The proper tool in this was BEAR SPRAY. NOT pepper spray, NOT mace.
Neither pepper spray nor mace will have ANY affect on a charging bear. ONLY BEAR SPRAY marked as BEAR SPRAY and that has the EPA seal on it.
You know when “experts” start using the wrong words a lot of damage could be done. Now we have people responding to some of these articles on Hanna and holding on to every word he says as truth and then making statements about mace or personal defense spray. GREAT! A bunch of hikers, hunters, cyclists, tourists and so on are going to go out and purchase pepper spray. Thanks Jack. C’mon! Please, be responsible about this. Think before you speak!
And yes, I work with/for Grizzlies, Jack does not. I know more in this case. Sorry.
Unbelivaeble how well-written and informative this was.