‘Town Crier’ newsletter – Briefs from the Region (1) – 1/21/20

Montanan kills grizzly in self-defense, keeps claws illegally

In 2017, Bryan Berg was in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in northwestern Montana when a grizzly bear charged him. He shot the animal, harvesting the claws from the dead body as a memento before pushing the carcass over the side of a mountain. Berg failed to notify authorities of the shooting despite knowing it was against the law to harvest then transport the claws—grizzlies are considered a threatened species in the northwestern corner of the state. Berg confessed to the crime in March 2018 when officials interviewed him after receiving a tip. As part of his plea deal, Berg was sentenced to three years’ probation and $5,000 in restitution in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Jan. 16. “I was so (expletive) mad at it because he was going to eat me, I know he was,” Berg told investigators, according to the New York Daily News. “So I basically said, ‘Hey, (expletive) you,’ and I cut his claws off. I did. I wanted to keep them as a memento.”

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