Robert Johnson and his brother, members of the Heiltsuk First Nation, nicknamed the grizzly bear "Cheeky". The brothers were working as field technicians in a coastal estuary, flanked by cascading slopes of cedar, spruce and hemlock, in the region of northwestern British Columbia known as the Great Bear Rainforest. The grizzly, a young male, earned his name from his behavior: following his friends through the long grass from a distance, occasionally poking his head up through the grass, or sticking out his tongue.
The brothers were in the estuary with Cheeky when a posse of big-game trophy hunters arrived and shot him. The first two shots took the bear down. A third one killed him. The shooter, Clayton Stoner, a professional hockey player who plays for Minnesota, skinned Cheeky and took the hide. He hacked off the bear's head and paws. He left the rest of Cheeky's carcass in the estuary to rot.
The brothers were in the estuary with Cheeky when a posse of big-game trophy hunters arrived and shot him. The first two shots took the bear down. A third one killed him. The shooter, Clayton Stoner, a professional hockey player who plays for Minnesota, skinned Cheeky and took the hide. He hacked off the bear's head and paws. He left the rest of Cheeky's carcass in the estuary to rot.