HELENA - A worker who was mauled feeding the bears at a tourist attraction near Glacier National Park is

eligible for workers' compensation even though he smoked marijuana that morning, a judge has ruled.

Brock Hopkins' use of marijuana before he arrived at work was not the main cause of the bear attack on Nov. 2, 2007, Judge James Jeremiah Shea of the state Workers' Compensation Court concluded in his ruling last month.

The attack happened at Great Bear Adventures, a

private park near West Glacier where tourists can watch black bears and grizzly bears while driving through the park.

Russell Kilpatrick, the owner of the park, had

contended Hopkins' use of marijuana caused the attack.

"I cannot conclude based on the evidence before me that the major contributing cause of the grizzly bear attack was anything other than the grizzly," the judge wrote. "It is not as if this attack occurred when Hopkins inexplicably wandered into the grizzly pen while searching for the nearest White Castle. Hopkins was attacked while performing a job Kilpatrick had paid him to do - feeding grizzly bears."