Man fined for shooting brown bear

WASILLA, Alaska, July 10 (UPI) -- An Alaska man, who shot a brown bear he believed threatened his family, said he will fight the ticket he was given for shooting the animal out of season.

Robert Pankoski of Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska, told the Anchorage Daily News that he plans to fight the $310 fine in court.

"I'm a hunter, a pretty ethical person," he said. "The safety of my daughter and my wife was the first thing in my mind."

Pankoski found the bear Saturday night in a space between his house and garage where he keeps trash cans in a shelter. He shooed the bear away but it kept returning and he decided "you know this bear is not going to go away, he told the Daily News.

After shooting and wounding the animal, Pankoski called state police who tracked it into a wooded area and killed it. Pankoski was given a fine for shooting the bear when it wasn't threatening him or his wife and daughter, the newspaper said.

Megan Peters, a state police spokeswoman, said troopers found evidence in the woods that at least one bear in the area had been rooting through garbage.