The ferocious scene from the Hollywood movie “The Revenant,” in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character nearly dies fighting a bear is unforgettable, but one Missouri man was so disturbed by it that he killed one of the animals, fearing a similar encounter.
Chris Keown decided to hunt down and kill a black bear a few weeks after watching the movie because he feared a similar attack on his 8-year-old son, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
Keown was told to pay a $99.50 fine for shooting and skinning the bear in May, even though the bear had not been aggressive towards him and had run off when he opened his front door.
The 40-year-old factory worker said that he had killed the animal, which had wandered onto his property some 25 yards (23 meters) from his front door, because the bear scene from the film had left him feeling uneasy.
Keown apologized for slaying the bear, but said he would not hesitate to do it again.
“I’m sorry that I did do it,” he said. “My adrenalin was pumping. About three weeks before that, we watched ‘The Revenant’ and it was just going through my mind.”
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After grabbing his gun, Keown followed the bear into the woods and shot the animal while it was sitting in a ditch. He then proceeded to skin it.
“And you get online and you look up black bear maulings or black bear attacks… I’m not going to take that chance.”
The head of the Missouri Conservation Department, Larry Yamnitz, said members of the public need to be educated about the law and how to deal with bears.
“He should have just let it go,” Yamnitz said.
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