Will Ferrell’s Wrestling Grizzly Bear Kills Man - Video Added
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. - THE grizzly bear that featured on the big screen pitted against comedy star Will Ferrell has killed a handler.
The 2.3m, 320kg grizzly known as Rocky featured in the film Semi-Pro, where Ferrell’s character wrestled with the animal to promote his basketball team. He was often called “The Hardest Working Bear In Show Business”. It is believed the handler was training him to perform in a new movie.
Three experienced handlers were working with the bear at Randy Miller’s Predators in Action facility when the bear bit 39-year-old Stephan Miller on the neck, said San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Beavers. Stephan Miller is Randy’s cousin, she said.
The center’s staff used pepper spray to subdue and contain the bear and there were no other injuries, she said.
A county Fire Department traumatic injury response unit responded about 3 p.m., but could not revive Miller.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Phelps said the bear was a 5-year-old male named Rocky. The Predators in Action Web site says Rocky is 7 1/2 feet tall, weighs 700 pounds and appeared in a scene in “Semi-Pro” in which Will Ferrell’s character wrestles a bear to promote his basketball team.
Calls seeking comment from Randy Miller, a stuntman and operator of Predators in Action, were not immediately returned Tuesday evening. Randy Miller doubled for Ferrell in the bear wrestling match, according to the center’s site.
The center, located in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles, says it has two grizzlies, and also trains lions, tigers, leopards, cougars and wolves for uses ranging from film and TV to advertising and education.
Randy Miller has 25 years of experience training animals and his facility has had a perfect safety record, according to the Web site.
It was not immediately known how long Rocky has been at the facility.
Randy Miller won a World Stunt Academy Award for his work wrestling tigers in the 2000 blockbuster “Gladiator” and performed stunts with his animals in films like “The Postman,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” and “The Last Samurai.”
He also helped recreate animal attacks for National Geographic documentaries and the Discovery Channel.
It wasn’t immediately clear what would happen to the bear.
Denise Richards, who works with wild animals at Moonridge Zoo, a sanctuary for injured and homeless wildlife in nearby Big Bear Lake, said trained animals that turn on their handlers are often destroyed.
“You can train them and use as many safety precautions as you can, but you’re still taking a chance if you’re putting yourself in contact with them,” Richards said. “It’s still a wild animal. Even though it may appear that the bear attacked for no reason, there was a reason. I’m sure Randy understands why it happened. They’re not cold-blooded killers.”
Native grizzly bears are extinct in California.
(AP)
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What a fucking shocker.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm12:30 A.M. PDT - for a moment there I thought Denise Richards was not a bimbo actress. then she said, “They’re not cold-blooded killers.”
Well, maybe she just misspoke and or hasn’t seen that YouTube vid of that Grizz. running 300 yards and taking down an adult Caribou, much less heard the name “Timothy Treadwell”
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 pmMike3481, Treadwell.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:48 amIdiots fucking with Mother Nature again.
Quit trying to save n’ play with wild animals. Leave ‘em the fuck alone.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 amMMMM, Bear steaks anyone?
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 amThey weren’t “@#$#ing” with the bear. The bear had been orphaned because of hunters and was given a chance to live. Shit happens. That’s like telling people not to rock climb because so many people fall to their deaths.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 am