AK: Bear Killed with Homemade Spear

Spears are very effective weapons.

Anchorage area wildlife biologist Dave Battle, with the state Department of Fish and Game, said a group of homeless people in the camp -- who had left out food and cooked near their tents -- became afraid of the bear after several recent encounters.


Using a metal knife blade, they made a spear to protect themselves, said Battle, who had talked to the illegal camp’s inhabitants.


The camp consisted of about half a dozen tents, Battle said. Four people were there Friday.

The group had strapped a foot-long knife to a 5 or 6-foot wooden staff, he said.

Friday morning, a roughly one-year-old cub was sniffing around a tent with someone inside, Battle said. Troopers said in a written statement there were children in the tent the bear approached.


"So he threw the spear and killed it,” Battle said. “They were attracting bears into their area because they were leaving food out irresponsibly. They had the bears coming in several times.”