Rancher Finally Wins His Case
Over Self-Defense With Grizzly

DENVER — A Montana rancher has won a decade-long battle with the federal government over his right to defend himself from a grizzly bear in his own yard.

John Shuler's claim of self-defense for the September 1989 confrontation in which he shot and killed the grizzly was upheld by the U.S. District Court in Montana last week, a spokesman for Mountain States Legal Foundation said Friday.

"John Shuler's nearly decade-old nightmare is now over," said William Perry Pendley, president of the foundation, which has represented Shuler since he was charged by the federal government with violating the Endangered Species Act.

"Only the zealousness of government officials and their lawyers prevented the federal government from admitting what every reasonable person knows: human beings have the right to use deadly force to protect themselves from a grizzly bear attack," Pendley said.

Shuler, a Dupuyer rancher, was watching his sheep on that September 1989 night when the grizzly "appeared suddenly out of the snowy darkness just a short distance from him, rose on its hind legs, and emitted a mighty roar," the legal foundation said. "Fearing for his life, Shuler shot the bear."

He was watching his flock because he had lost 11 sheep in the previous few weeks to bears.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service charged him with violating the Endangered Species Act and sought to fine him $7000, and an administrative law judge employed by the U.S. Department of the Interior concluded that while Shuler's belief that his life was in danger was reasonable, he could not claim self-defense. The judge lowered the fine to $4000.

An appeal to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt added insult to injustice when Babbitt’s ad hoc appeals board raised the fine to $5000.

Shuler then sued, arguing that self-defense is well recognized and when an individual has reason to believe his life is in danger, he has the right to use deadly force to defend himself.

"In ruling in Shuler's favor, the district court agreed that the Interior Department's view of self defense is at odds with well-established law and that Shuler should have been found not guilty in light of his claim of self defense," the legal foundation said.

Mountain States Legal Foundation is a nonprofit, public interest legal center based in Denver.