Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Regional Warden Supervisor Louis Kis from Kalispell has successfully relocated many grizzly bears over the years. There have been a couple of close calls, but none had resulted in injuries to bears or people, until June 24, 1987. On that day, Kis planned to release an adult male weighing approximately 500 pounds from a lightweight aluminum live-trap, but everything went terribly wrong.
The grizzly had been caught on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which borders Glacier National Park, by Federal Animal Damage Control Agent Ken Wheeler. The bear was transferred to fish, wildlife and parks department personnel in the aluminum trap for relocation. These chilling pictures, believed to be the only authenticated photos in existence of an actual grizzly attack (at least at the time), show what happened during the release of the radio-collared bruin near the border of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
Kis experienced difficulty raising the aluminum trap’s door, and the bear bit and clawed at the metal that was partway up. This forced the door high enough for the bear to exit the trap. As soon as the bear was on the ground, Kis hollered, “Go!” to wildlife biologist Shawn Riley, who was at the wheel of the pickup truck the trap was in.
Lou’s voice caught the grizzly’s attention, and the bear reared up on its hind legs, reaching for the warden on top of the trap before Shawn could drive away.
The bear pulled the trap out of the truck, and Lou, who had been looking down on the situation only moments before, found himself tumbling on top of the bear before hitting the ground.
The experienced warden got to his feet and drew his .357 Magnum revolver a split second before the grizzly grabbed him. Lou emptied the gun into the bear at point-blank range, killing the grizzly with the sixth and last round.
Lou didn’t know he had been hurt until he walked away from the bear and saw blood on his right boot. He said he didn’t feel a thing. There were four puncture wounds in his lower leg, and at least one of his leg bones was fractured. Lou was airlifted to the Kalispell Regional Hospital by helicopter.
Lou Kis is the last person who wanted to kill that bear, but he had no choice under the circumstances.
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