KALISPELL, Mont. — A Montana man told investigators that he cut off a grizzly bear’s claws after shooting it in self-defense because he was mad that the bear was going to eat him.
The Flathead Beacon reports 35-year-old Bryan Berg was fined $5,000 and sentenced to probation on Thursday after pleading guilty to illegal transport of grizzly bear claws.
Prosecutors say Berg shot the bear in self-defense in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness in 2017.
He cut off the claws and pushed the carcass over the side of a mountain.
Berg told investigators he wanted to keep the claws as a memento.
