Make that " . . . four year long . . . ."
Well, since the Martini-Enfield is single-shot, firing it at a bear would technically be emptying the magazine… 
A .450/577 Martini-Henry would be a better Bear Stopper anyway- they’ve been known to bring down elephants and tigers before. 
Geez, don’t you people have Hyperbole? Obviously I wouldn’t go shooting bears off in the distance that weren’t bothering anyone, but in close quarters, given a split second decision to make, it would be shoot first, hope for Bear Steaks later.
Of course, we don’t have Bears in Australia, so it would make a nice rug/conversation piece…
(And Koalas aren’t bears , they’re marsupials…) 
BFD, the maybe might have killed the wrong bear.
- It’s only an animal.
- It’s an animal that our pioneer ancestors, rightly, regarded as giant vermin.
- It’s still only an animal.
I thought much the same. Such a shame to end a bears life for simply being a bear amongst many. A straw dog, results in the face of pressure. The sacrifice.
Such is the disparity in humanity.
It’s not that hard. I spent some time volunteering on a Black Bear project in NC some years ago. The traps used caused no harm to the bears - maybe pissed them off a bit, but caused no injury. They were quite simple spring-loaded snares which catches them by the wrist. We all had a go at snaring ourselves and they were really only very mildly uncomfortable. The trapped bears were sedated whilst still in the trap, then we just retreated until the drugs took hold.