Huge grizzly takes on mythical proportions

ANCHORAGE — A massive grizzly has taken on mythical proportions since it was killed 19 months ago in the Chugach National Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service in Juneau is still receiving a steady stream of e-mails from people all over the world asking if the legend is true.

There was never any question the brown bear 22-year-old Airman Ted Winnen shot to death in October 2001 on Hinchinbrook Island was huge.

The grizzly measured 10 feet, 6 inches from nose to tail. Its front claws were 3 to 4 inches long. An Alaska master guide estimated the bear's weight at up to 1,200 pounds. (The average weight of a brown bear in Hinchinbrook is less than half that.)

But the bear has grown into a monster of impossible proportions in e-mails that have been making the Internet rounds, said Forest Service spokesman Ray Massey.

It's now over 1,600 pounds and 12 feet, 6 inches high at the shoulder, according to one message Massey has received.

E-mail exaggerations began to circulate little more than a month after Winnen, stationed at the time at Eielson Air Force Base, shot it while deer hunting.

The Forest Service gets three or four e-mails about the bear every week, Massey said. Many are from people who are skeptical and want confirmation of their doubts from the agency.

The bear was not a record — and it didn't kill anyone, as far as it is known, despite some versions of the legend. The bear was coming toward Winnen and a partner from about 10 yards away, but it may not have seen them.

Hoping to debunk the myths, Massey answers the e-mails with plenty of details about the actual size of the bear and the hunt.

The Forest Service's Web site provides a news release about the hunt and the rumors.