Man Claims Self Defense In Shooting Grizzly; Feds File Charges

[Valin]

KHQ TV:

Anthony Gomes, KHQ Reporter
8/24/11

PORTHILL, Idaho – Jeremy Hill shot and killed a grizzly bear at the end of May. No one disputes that. But what happened next has galvanized a small town 100 miles north of Coeur d'Alene.

Federal agents filed a criminal misdemeanor charge of killing the grizzly, which is listed as a threatened species. It is a charge Hill and hundreds of supporters in town vehemently deny by arguing Hill shot the bear just feet from his home to protect his family.

Hill's kids were playing outside when three bears wandered into the yard on Mother's Day. Hill killed one of the bears with a rifle and the two other bears ran away. Family friends say the bears were watching livestock in a pen about 150 feet from the family home.

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