June 6, 1998 Grizzly suspected of killing hiker shot Story by: By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK - Rangers killed a female grizzly bear Thursday, nearly three weeks after the bruin apparently pursued, killed and consumed a hiker in Glacier National Park's southeastern corner.
According to acting park Superintendent Butch Farabee, the 13-year-old bear was shot at about 2 p.m. near No Name Lake in the Upper Two Medicine Valley. One of the bear's two subadult cubs has been trapped. According to park officials, the dead bear looked like it had been in good health. A routine necropsy - an animal autopsy - has been requested.
An autopsy report on Craig Dahl, 26, has not yet been completed, officials said. However, growing circumstantial evidence indicated bears killed the hiker. Results from DNA tests have confirmed the bear's presence at the scene.
Dahl, of Winter Park, Colorado, was last seen on Sunday, May 17, when he told friends and coworkers he was hiking alone into the Two Medicine area.
His body was discovered three days later, surrounded by bear prints, hair and scat. Recently, officials received new information from hikers who found Dahl's pack along the trail on May 18. The hikers also reported finding tracks in a nearby snowfield. The human footprints, they said, appeared to be running straight downhill, directly above the spot where Dahl's body was later found.
The hikers also reported signs of disturbance in the snow, which may have been made by a bear running downhill. The hikers apparently took the pack with them, but left a coat found in the pack hanging from a trail sign.
"This new evidence could have greatly helped our initial search," Farabee said. "The lack of these facts cost the search and investigation two days and the loss of meaningful clues."
According to Farabee, the failure to report the found pack probably delayed the discovery of the body and resulted in the loss of key evidence due to rain and subsequent melted snow.
The new evidence, coupled with belated reports from other hikers, indicates to officials that Dahl, while hiking alone, surprised a family of grizzlies. He fled, they believe, and was run down and killed. The bears then partially consumed the young man.
If the official scenario is correct and DahI was killed by a grizzly bear, his would be the 10th such death in park history.