Video: Jack Hanna Bests Grizzly Bear with Pepper Spray

Jack Hanna recently warded off a 125 grizzly bear by taking his own advice. Hanna pepper spraying the charging grizzly three times before it took off.

Hanna, the ever ecstatic and exuberant tv host and Columbus zookeeper has always given out the advice freely to all hikers to carry pepper spray as a more effective means of protection than carrying weapons.

The pepper spray, though effective on bears does not leave permanent damage to the animals.

According to Yahoo News, Jack Hanna told the The Columbus Dispatch that after upon seeing three grizzly bears coming up a trail he and others were on: “We thought of letting them go by, but the trail was cut into the rock and was too narrow. So I said, ‘Everybody talk loud and we’ll back up until we can get off the trail.’ I said, ‘Crawl up the hill and put your backs against the wall.“

After instructing the others to make noise, Hanna could see that the grizzly bears were still approaching. The crowd of people which included Jack, his wife, a young woman and her parents all stood silently still as the mother grizzly and one of her cubs passed by.

The second grizzly cub began to charge at them. It was then that Hanna took out his pepper spray and sprayed the bear three times, the last time effectively warded the bear off.

Jack told The Early Show that “You wear (pepper spray) this on your chest, with your backpack, so I pulled (the safety clip) off. I already had it off. You throw this down, take the safety clip, go like that. I pointed it at the bear. I didn’t want the bear to start making problems or the mother would come back.“

Fortunately Jack Hanna was able to take his own personal knowledge to protect others. In the process, he was able to prove the advice he’d given all these years was correct. Definitely important to remember for the hikers out there, bring pepper spray to ward off grizzly bear attacks because sometimes such attacks become deadly as in the recent Montana incident.