Stephan Miller, the trainer, was brutally attacked by the bear while trying to film a commercial for stage wrestling. The routine went horribly wrong.
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Bear attacks man fatally while filming an advertisement in 2008.
Terrifying footage shows the moment that a trainer was killed by a grizzly bear following a simple routine in 2008.
Tragically, Stephan Miller, Trainer, died after Rocky, the bear that attacked Miller while he was filming a promo video at the Predators In Action facility in West Virginia, became disoriented.
Rocky tried to bite his trainer’s neck, and forcibly pushed him down. Disturbed onlookers ran to the scene to help the bear.
Stephan’s cousin Randy Miller ran on the scene to rescue his cousin. Rocky was struck with a cane while Rocky and his crew used pepper spray.
Stephan was able to distract the bear but he tiredly stood up and went off screen. He tragically died from a pierced vein and an artery minutes later.
This heartbreaking video shows the bear and trainer attempting to film a commercial for a stage wrestle match.
Randy, Stephan’s cousin was distraught after he lost his cousin and witnessed such an awful incident.
A visibly shaken Randy said at the time: “It’s killing me. We were brothers.”
“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.
The video has re-emerged on the 14 th anniversary of the attack, as Rocky was a trained bear who had previously appeared on the big screen, with him as “Dewey, the Killer Bear” in the Will Ferrell film Semi-Pro just a few weeks earlier.
Cousin Randy holds no bitterness towards Rocky as he described him as a “loving, affectionate, friendly, safe bear”.
An official investigation was launched into the incident by The California Department of Fish and Game, however, they concluded Miller’s death was accidental.
This lead to animal right activists calling for Rocky to be spared euthanasia, with the activists encouraging authorities the bear should be allowed to live and retire to a zoo rather than be put down.
Part of the agreement for Rocky was that he would have no contacts with humans other than his trainers because of the possible danger he could pose again to the public.
