Montana Woman Credited With Saving Illinois Boy From Grizzly Bear
SPOKANE, Wash. (CBS) -- A Montana woman is getting public credit for her selfless and brave actions this summer, saving an Illinois boy from an attack by a grizzly bear.
As WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports, Erin Bolster, of Whitefish Bay, Mont., was leading a group of eight people on horseback along a trail near Glacier National Park, when a grizzly bear came across the path chasing a deer.
Most of the horses turned away and took off, but a horse carrying an 8-year-old Illinois boy ran into the woods. The deer took the hint and ran off with the other horses, and the bear turned its attack on the horse with the boy.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports
Podcast
"The deer peeled off and joined the horses sprinting down the trail," Bolster said. "So the bear just continued running right past me. I'm not sure the bear even knew the roles had changed, but now it was chasing a horse instead of a deer."
The boy's father was unable to get his horse to turn around to help his son.
"The last thing he saw over his shoulder as his horse ran away was the grizzly chasing his boy," Bolster said.
Bolster was able to get her horse, Tonk, to follow the bear.
"The boy was bent over, feet out of the stirrups, clutching the saddle horn and the horse's neck," she said.
At that point, Bolster got her horse, Tonk, to charge the grizzly three times.
"I had no hesitation, honestly," she told the Spokane Spokesman-Review. "Nothing in my body was going to let that little boy get hurt by that bear."
She and Tonk had to charge at the bear three times before they finally hazed it away.
"The boy had landed in some bear grass and was OK," she said.
Bolster pulled the boy up on Tonk, grabbed Scout's lead and headed down the trail toward the rest of the group.
The boy "was fine, and I got my biggest tip of the season," Bolster said.
And so taken was Bolster with the horse, Tonk, that she bought the horse. He had been leased by Swan Mountain Outfitters for the summer.
On Oct. 11, Bolster and Tonk will appear on The Late Show with David Letterman, which you can see at 10:35 p.m. on CBS 2.
No reports have identified the boy who was attacked by the bear, nor whether he was from the Chicago area or downstate Illinois.
(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
