Jack Hanna wards off grizzly with pepper spray

Photo by Special to Knoxville Magazine

Jack Hanna and his family lived in what was then an isolated rural area out by Ten Mile Creek on Ebenezer Road, where they operated a large animal farm called Bu-Ja-Su.

Photo by Special to Knoxville Magazine

Jack Hanna and his family lived in what was then an isolated rural area out by Ten Mile Creek on Ebenezer Road, where they operated a large animal farm called Bu-Ja-Su.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — TV host and zookeeper Jack Hanna says he took his own advice and used pepper spray on grizzlies headed toward him.

The Columbus Zoo keeper and frequent David Letterman guest says he was with his wife and other hikers in Montana’s Glacier National Park on Saturday when they saw the mother bear and two large cubs coming toward them. Hanna and the others moved slowly back up the trail to a clearing and stood still while the mother and one cub passed by.

Hanna says the other cub, weighing about 125 pounds, charged toward the hikers. Hanna sprayed the bear in the face, and it fled.

Hanna had recently filmed a message for the National Park Service encouraging hikers to carry pepper spray.

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