Hungry Grizzly Gives Tourists A Rush

A group of tourists in Glacier National Park got a close-up look at a grizzly bear at work this week.

As they told it later, the bear burst out of trailside brush near Many Glacier Lodge and killed a moose calf in the edge of Swiftcurrent Lake only about 50 feet from them, then dragged the carcass past them into the brush.

“The people who came through here after they saw it were just blown away,” said Matt Janis, a bellman at the lodge. “It was pretty wild around here for a while.”

Janis and co-workers heard the story several times through the evening from the shaken tourists.

Janis said the cow moose and two calves had been hanging around the lodge for several days.

The bear attacked as one of the calves, standing partially in the water, was providing a photo opportunity for the spectators not far from the lodge’s boathouse, he said.

The Swiftcurrent Nature Trail remained closed Saturday, said park spokesperson Karl Vester. He said the attack occurred about 6:15 p.m. Monday.

“The bear was not concerned with the hikers,” Vesper said rangers reported. “It paid no attention to them.”

Rangers who investigated the reports were not available for comment Saturday.