An animal trainer was mauled to death by a grizzly bear he had raised since childhood during a stunt that went horribly wrong. Stephan Miller, 39, was at his cousin's animal training centre, Randy Miller's Predators in Action, in the San Bernardino mountains near Los Angeles when the tragedy occurred.
Miller was helping his cousin film a promotional video with Rocky, a 7.5ft tall grizzly bear weighing around 50 stone. The five-year-old bear had been trained with humans and had previously wrestled with Miller in the 2008 comedy Semi-Pro, where Miller served as a body double for Will Ferrell.
On the day of the attack, the pair brought the bear out for what was meant to be a playful advertisement. However, Rocky lunged at Miller's neck, catching him off guard and biting him in a vulnerable spot. Handlers used pepper spray to subdue the bear and managed to get Rocky away within seconds, but paramedics were unable to revive Miller, who died minutes after being bitten. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
Randy Miller described the incident: 'It happened so fast. We did what we had to do to stop the bear. It took a matter of seconds to get him off, but it was too late.' He added that Stephan had been bonding with the bear before the attack, and that the bear was friendly and liked people. The plan was for Stephan to wrestle the bear and keep it contained within a hotline.
Following the incident, the California Department of Fish and Game and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched an investigation. Despite pressure from animal rights groups, Rocky's life was spared and he was moved to an animal sanctuary in California. The facility had all relevant permits for filming.
