A trucker in Montana narrowly avoided the confrontation of his life with an angry grizzly bear.
Billings Gazette reported that a truck driver accidentally ran over a grizzly cub that ran onto Highway 191 in Gallatin Canyon, Montana on May 26. No damage was done to the semi, but the impact was enough to trigger the air bags. The trucker pulled over to the shoulder, walked a few hundred yards away from the semi, and called his company for a tow.
Yellowstone National Park tour guide David Reeves saw the trucker on the side of the road and offered him a ride. The trucker declined, so Reeves went on his way to meet his tour group. Once the guide made it down the road, he discovered the mama bear investigating the scene of the accident. She stood over the carcass of her cub, and charged a Reeves’s vehicle.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way I can let that guy walk into that. She’ll kill him,’” Reeves told Ravalli Republic. “I turned around and positioned the vehicle so he could safely get into the cab of his truck. As I drove away the sow was starting to walk up the hill to the west.”
Thanks to the tour guide, the trucker was able to get back in his truck while avoiding an encounter with an angry mama bear.
Photo of a semi truck on Highway 191 in Gallatin Canyon by Brian Ormond.
