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A FEMALE special education teacher was mauled to death by a wolf while jogging in Alaska, authorities told local media.

The body of 32-year-old Candice Berner, originally from Pennsylvania, was found Monday night off a road leading to the Chignik Lake airstrip, The News Tribune reported.

Police investigating the case believe she was killed in an “animal attack, possibly a wolf attack” after locals reported wolf sightings.

The people who found the woman’s body while returning from clam digging say that a wolf stalked one of them earlier in the day, the Alaska Dispatch reported.

The woman’s death is still under investigation and her body is being taken to Anchorage for an autopsy, police said.

Candice’s father, Bob Berner, told The News Tribune his daughter was a “small and mighty” woman who liked to box, lift weights and run. She was running in training for a race, he said.

Berner was a traveling special education teacher based in Perryville who had just arrived in Chignik to work at the school in the area, said local school officials.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Karl Wolfe had a half day to hunt for blacktail deer, but the outing ended just 15 minutes after he left his truck.

Hiking in darkness and a steady rain up a steep Sitka slope, Wolfe was attacked Sunday morning by a grizzly bear, which chomped down on his arm and knocked him to the ground.

Wolfe managed to fend the bear off by hitting it with his rifle and firing a round. He escaped relatively unscathed — just two bites that were stapled shut at the Sitka hospital.

Department of Fish and Game biologist Phil Mooney visited the site Monday, looking for clues to what triggered the attack and for signs of a wounded bear.

Wolfe, an experienced hunter, had no way to know he was about to have a bear encounter, Mooney said.

“This bear essentially gave him no warning,” Mooney said Tuesday. “It was very quick.”

Sitka is a community of about 8,600 on Baranof Island. Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof islands together are known as the “ABC” islands, sparsely populated with humans, heavily populated with bears that Alaska researchers have found are related more closely to polar bears than to other brown bears.

The attack occurred about 200 feet from a road that passes near Sitka’s old pulp mill and less than 300 yards above Sawmill Creek, where a few residual pink salmon remain and coho salmon are starting to come in.

“Bears have been up on that slope resting, and then they cross the road and fish at a stream below,” Mooney said.

Mooney called the site a “dog hair thicket,” an area overgrown with new hemlock about 20 feet tall but just two inches to four inches in diameter and few branches as the trees compete for sunlight.

“It’s like walking through a forest of toothpicks,” Mooney said.

Visibility is only about 30 to 35 feet even when the sun is out.

“It’s a good place for bears to sit,” Mooney said. They can lie uphill without disclosing their location and listen and look for anything coming at them. They’re not hiding from humans, Mooney said, but from other bears.

Mooney found no evidence that the attacking bear was defending a food cache. He found few tracks and nothing to indicate the presence of a cub.

What he did find was a rock shelf above Wolfe’s path. A mix of fallen trees and root wads had created a canopy and a dry spot about the size of a dining room table. A bear had dug a bed in the needles before Wolfe arrived.

“I’m just guessing, but the bear could have been asleep and didn’t hear him until he was very close,” Mooney said.

Wolfe told the Daily Sitka Sentinel he was “side-hilling” — zigzagging up the mountain because it was so steep. He followed a rough trail wide enough for one person that had been cut in by the Sitka Mountain Rescue team.

The bear needed only about three steps to cover the 20 feet to Wolfe. His backpack’s strap may have deflected the bear’s jaw. The momentum knocked Wolfe to the ground between two trees.

Wolfe swung his rifle around and hit the bear with the butt end. The animal turned away for a moment but still had its ears back, Wolfe said.

“It didn’t go away, it was regrouping,” he told the Sentinel. “It swung around and was coming at me aggressively.”

Wolfe chambered a round into his rifle and fired from hip at close range. He said he didn’t know if he hit the bear, but he didn’t wait to find out.

“I knew I was bleeding a little, and I knew I needed to get out of the woods,” Wolfe said.

He said he reached his truck and drove to the Sitka hospital.

His heavy clothes and the pack may have prevented a more serious injury.

“The bear didn’t hook him in the back in the shoulder blades or the ribs,” Mooney told the AP. “It’s just one of those things. Sometimes you just can’t beat luck.”

Mooney found no blood to indicate the bear had been wounded.

Wolfe didn’t immediately return phone calls Tuesday from The Associated Press.

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2 injured by lightning strike

 

Associated Press – May 27, 2009 11:24 AM ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Anchorage Fire Department officials say two people were struck by lightning in Arctic Valley between Anchorage and Eagle River.

A man and woman were watching thunderstorms roll in at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when they were struck.

The 25-year-old man was knocked unconscious.

When he came to, he saw his 23-year-old companion about 15 feet away, seriously injured.

The man was able to walk out but the woman suffered a back injury and cuts to her legs and had to be carried down. Emergency officials brought in all-terrain vehicles to aid in the rescue.

The man’s shoes were blown open and melted. He suffered cuts to head and hands.

Link

Outrage builds in Anchorage after bear attacks

By MARY PEMBERTON Associated Press Writer

Posted: 05/11/2009 01:51:08 AM PDT

Updated: 05/11/2009 08:22:45 AM PDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Spring is here and bears are emerging from their dens for the short stroll to Alaska’s largest city. Some residents are putting out the NO VACANCY sign.Anchorage has a reputation for being bear tolerant but after three maulings last summer—including a 15-year-old girl who nearly bled to death when attacked by a grizzly in a city park—a chorus of outrage is building.

Wanda Phillips is among them. She recently moved from Washington state—where she saw no bears—to the Anchorage suburb of Eagle River, where there are lots of bears.

Last summer, Phillips saw at least 10 bears near her home. A grizzly camped out in her back yard defending a moose kill. Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials told her to keep the family inside until the bear was finished with the carcass.

“It (that advice) didn’t seem very helpful to me,” she said. “We have a real safety problem. The fact they are ignoring it is a time bomb.”

Anchorage is unique among mid-sized American cities. The municipality’s 285,000 residents share space with at least 65 brown bears and about 250 black bears. The sprawling municipality is surrounded by wild country. Anchorage is next to Chugach State Park, a half-million acre park that wildlife officials have described as a “bear factory.”

Deaths from bear maulings are uncommon in the municipality. In July 1995, a mother and son were killed by a bear defending a moose carcass along McHugh Creek Trail. However, the mauling of Petra Davis, followed by another attack on the same park trail later last summer and the mauling of a young man in Eagle River, have some residents demanding a crackdown on the bears.

Trash day is a real spectacle, Phillips said.

“You can sit on the deck and look from our windows and watch them cruise the neighborhood looking for people that don’t use bear cans. They literally go from driveway to driveway to driveway,” Phillips said.

Her children are not allowed to walk alone this time of year. They always are armed with pepper spray, she said.

Last summer, some children walking home from school encountered a large grizzly. They huddled up in a driveway, made lots of noise to scare off the bear and called for help on their cell phones.

Phillips, who was at her job 20 minutes away, got a call.

“My kids are screaming ‘There is a grizzly bear. We can’t get home,’” she said.

One of the mothers rescued the children.

“I think a kid is going to end up being killed,” Phillips said.

Already this summer, there is a feeling of deja vu. Last Friday, a sign went up on one of the city’s most popular trails warning people of a black bear sow defending her cubs. Last month, a black bear chased some skiers and treed a man in the same park where two maulings occurred last summer.

“People think, ‘Holy cow, we are under assault’,” said Rick Sinnott, an area biologist with the Department of Fish and Game overseeing the bear problem.

In a move to target bolder bears before they reach Anchorage, Sinnott said hunting opportunities for brown bear have been increased in the Chugach State Park. Ten permits will be issued. Sinnott hopes no more than three are killed.

“We don’t really want to reduce the population that much,” he said.

Anchorage is not being overrun by bears, Sinnott said.

“I think it was kind of an unusual situation last year in part because I think we had a couple of brown bear sows with cubs in places where we probably can’t tolerate them,” he said.

He points to a 1997 survey that showed most people in Anchorage liked having bears around. But, he said, Anchorage’s tolerance could be waning. Another survey is planned for this fall.

In the meantime, Anchorage’s bear management policy will remain much the same as in the past, Sinnott said. If a particular bear is dangerous and has hurt someone and is likely to hurt someone again, it will be shot, Sinnott said.

Even if it appears more dangerous than the average bear but hasn’t hurt anyone, it will be destroyed, he said. But, he said, there will be no mass extermination of bears.

“The people that want us to shoot all the bears in town, that is unreasonable,” Sinnott said. “We don’t kill bears in retribution. We try to examine each case.”

Thomas Wood, a longtime Eagle River resident, said Anchorage’s approach to bear management is “nonsense.”

“They should shoot all the bears in town,” he said. “Now they are coddling the bears so people are getting hurt. It is so stupid. The inmates are running the asylum.”

Sinnott is not going to abandon old themes.

“I am still going to hammer on people about garbage this year,” he said.

Last year, the city replaced more than 20 municipal trash containers in municipal parks with bear-resistant cans. This summer, the city plans to replace industrial trash bins with bear-resistant cans in areas where there are restaurants and apartment complexes.

For the first time, people who improperly dispose of their trash will be fined instead of being issued warnings. Fines for a first offense range from $50 to $300, up to $600 for a second offense.

Phillips said that’s not enough. People who live in neighborhoods frequented by bears need to be required to use bear-resistant trash containers.

Paul Jenkins of Eagle River keeps a shotgun loaded with bird shot within easy reach to prevent a 300-pound black bear that hangs around his house from killing his dog. The bear has never been aggressive to Jenkins, but has bluff-charged some of the neighbors walking their dogs.

“I am not going to let him eat my Schnauzer,” he said.

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Alaska Division of Forestry issues first wildfire alert of the season

Staff Report

Published Friday, May 1, 2009

FAIRBANKS — In addition to flooding because of ice jams in the Tanana River, the record-high temperatures this week also produced the season’s first wildfire alert.

On Thursday, the state Division of Forestry suspended all burning because of warm, dry conditions and officials cautioned residents to be careful now that the ground is snow-free.

“The ground basically freeze dries in the wintertime, and it burns quite readily as soon as the snow’s gone,” Fairbanks fire management officer Robert Schmoll said. “The fire danger stays high until we get some precipitation or things start greening up with new vegetation.”

The high temperature at Fairbanks International Airport hit a record 76 degrees on Thursday, breaking the record of 74 degrees set on that date in 1960. The 76-degree mark also was the highest temperature ever recorded in Fairbanks during April.

The high temperature on Wednesday was 74, breaking the record of 69 set in 2005.

Combined with humidities in the low teens, the warm temperatures have melted most of the snow and dried out the vegetation that has emerged.

“With the snow gone, people are going to want to burn,” Schmoll said. “We urge everybody to be very cautious and to follow specifications on their burn permits.”

A burn permit is required for any outside burning in the borough and permit holders must call the Division of Forestry each day before they burn.

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Fatal snakebites rare but still require emergency first-aid

29 April, 2009 06:45:00Keith Murray

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I receive a lot of questions about snakebites while conducting training classes onboard yachts, so this month I would like to start by telling you what not to do.

Do not cut or suck on the wound. In addition to the obvious risk factors to the rescuer, you can damage skin and organs, increase the risk of infection, and it will not remove venom.

Do not use ice. Ice has no effect on venom.

Do not use alcohol. Alcohol will not help and may increase venom absorption.

Do not use a tourniquet. They do not stop venom and may cause the victim to lose a limb.

There are more than 3,000 species of snakes worldwide; about 500 species are venomous. About 5 million snakebites occur worldwide each year, causing about 125,000 deaths.

Venom is basically a modified form of saliva. It immobilizes prey so a snake can eat. It acts quickly, affecting the central nervous system, lungs and heart.

If you are bitten by a poisonous snake or lizard, seek emergency medical care immediately. Don’t wait until you experience symptoms.

Never try to kill or capture the reptile just to identify it. Further exposure risks an additional bite. A snake has the ability to bite and release venom by reflex for up to 90 minutes after it is dead. Get as much information about the reptile as possible. If you can safely take a picture, this may help.

Antivenin may not be readily available at every medical facility. Call ahead to find the best place to be treated for the specific bite.

In North America, we have several snakes and lizards that are poisonous: pit vipers, which include rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins/cotton mouths; coral snakes; the Gila monster; and the Mexican bearded lizard. In Maine, Alaska and Hawaii, there are no native poisonous snakes.

Symptoms from snakebites may appear within minutes or take hours. Symptoms may include severe burning or pain where bitten, swelling that starts at the bite and spreads, and possible bleeding from the wound as well as blistering, fever, nervous system disruption, numbness, convulsions, excessive sweating, diarrhea, vision problems, increased thirst, nausea and vomiting, rapid pulse, difficulty speaking, and difficulty breathing and/or cessation of breathing.

Sea snakes and some Australian snakes can cause muscle death in multiple areas of the body. These dead muscle cells can clog the kidneys, which can lead to kidney failure.

Use caution when dealing with snakebites. A victim may have no initial significant symptoms, and then suddenly develop breathing difficulty and go into shock.

If you do not develop any symptoms after 10-12 hours, it is possible that you were either bitten by a non-venomous snake or no venom was injected. This type of dry bite occurs in approximately 25 percent to 50 percent of all bites.

Of those bites where venom was injected into the body, only about 10 percent are severe. But even if you do not develop symptoms after 10 hours, still seek medical attention and continue to look for symptoms for the next several weeks.

Snakebite victims should seek medical care unless the snake is positively identified as non-venomous. If you are not certain the snake is non-venomous seek medical attention.

A victim who is young, old or has health problems is generally at greater risk than a healthy adult. Factors that affect the severity of a poisonous snake or lizard bite include type and size of the reptile, as well as the quantity of the venom injected, the potency of the venom, the location and depth of the bite, and the number of bites.

Bites by non-venomous species require good wound care. Wash the bite with lots of soap and water and carefully inspect the wound for broken fangs, dirt or debris. Victims that have not had a tetanus booster within the past five years should get one.

Remove any constricting items, such as rings, wrist watches or other jewelry that could reduce blood flow if the bite area swells. Immobilize the bitten area and keep it lower than the heart. Cover the area with a clean, cool bandage to minimize swelling, and monitor vital signs. If any changes occur, immediately call or radio for help.

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City to close trail where bear attacked cyclist

The Rover’s Run trail in Far North Bicentennial Park will be closed this summer. (Rich Jordan/KTUU-TV)

There is also a plan to limit access to creeks. (Rich Jordan/KTUU-TV)

 

by Ashton Goodell
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Anchorage Department of Parks and Recreation plans to close Rover’s Run this summer at Far North Bicentennial Park.

Last summer, a bear mauled a cyclist riding along the trail during a bike competition. The trail was closed after that attack, and this year officials say they don’t want to wait for another problem.

The Arctic Bicycle Club plans to find a new venue for its 24-hour bike race and said that after the attack last year it only made sense to find a new location. This year people will scout the trail, making noise before the cyclists ride through.

Right now the trail is closed to bikers, but hikers can still use it. The plan is to close the trail to all users early in the summer before the salmon run, though a closing date hasn’t been set.

Joshua Ream hikes the trails near Rover’s Run. He says he’s more aware of bears than ever before.

“It’s important just to be bear savvy and to know what you are doing,” he said. “I think a lot of people get bear-a-phobic and that keeps them from venturing into areas that they normally would like to.”

There’s also a plan to stop making trails within 100 feet of certain creeks.

“The biggest thing the municipality can do is really do that outreach and education component, and make people aware and encourage people to be safe,” said Brad Dunker, an engineering technician with Parks and Rec.

The city installed bear-proof garbage can lids to help keep bears away from trails. Parks and Rec says the bear problem is correlated to trash along hiking trails.

 

Link

Some interesting advice here! Not sure how “official” any of the advice is, but it’s a fun read.

What’s the best way to do away with a bear if it attacks you when you don’t have a big rifle along?

I am going to go deer hunting up north this November in a big woods that always has tons of bear tracks in it. I asked my pa what I should do if one of those bears gets hungry and starts drooling on my boots while I’m hunting. He says that a bear’s heart beats so slow that it doesn’t pay to shoot it in the heart and that he heard that a bullet from a .22 won’t make it through a bear’s skull. I don’t think that I’ll have any problems with a bear as I’ll be with other people, but now I’m curious as to what to do in such a situation.

I deer hunt with a Savage 30-30 … pretty small and old, but it gets the job done, & I would never trade it in for anything! The clip can carry 3 bullets; so, I can have 4 bullets in there at a time. One for each kneecap on the bear, right?

I haven’t been bear hunting which is why I have no idea about this stuff, and I’m sure that bear hunters use much bigger rifles, but what does one do while carrying only a small rifle during a bear attack?

 

20 Answers »

1. If you’re entering bear territory, you should make loud, consistent noises the entire time as you’re walking around, so as not to startle them. This gives bears a chance to move away from the noise source. When bears are startled, that’s when they’re most aggressive and deadly.

   If you DO come across a bear standing on his hind legs – that’s when he’s in attack mode – I’ve heard that you should crap a big load in your pants. Seriously. It supposedly drives them away. You DON’T want to attack with a small gun – it will only piss the bear off more.

   Comment by Dien — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

2. use what you have

   Comment by hill bill y — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

3. You should pack some of the bear sprays that are sold at local sporting good stores. Also I was in Alaska a couple of years ago and was told that any form of scent will attract them so no scented deordant, purfume or cologne. In an attack you are susposed to lie still in a curled up position. A 30-30 can stop a bear, especially a black bear but a grizzly, brown or kodiak, you’re on your own lol

   Comment by William — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

4. Get some of the Hornady leverevolution ammo for your 30-30, if you’re a good shot with it, and can hit the bear in the eye (the bone tissue is thinnest in the ocular socket) this ammo will kill the bear with 1 shot.

   Comment by boker_magnum — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

5. Id shoot it with the 30-30. If its a black bear, it will probly kill it it anyway, but a Grizzly would be a different story. The idea of making noise while hunting is retarded. How are you supposed to see der when you are scaring off bears? If you hit it in the head, it will more than likely kill it.

   Comment by Aaron — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

6. better go with a 338 win mag thats what the alaska dnr said will pud dawn a kodick grizzy. and thats what i got and i going 2 get a s&w500 mag the stroungert handgun in the would

   Comment by joshuagertsch — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

7. if its a black bear fight back and bite it, but if it is a grizzly or brown like in Alaska kiss your butt good by

   Comment by fishslayer1986 — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

8. I’ve seen this show, and if you are hiking without a weapon, get on the ground and cover your vital areas (head. neck)
   This makes the bear think that you are not a threat to the bear. Good luck out there.

   Comment by surfer dude — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

9. Black bear will try to avoid you, they are more afraid of you than you are of them*.. You could always bare your teeth at them, it worked for Daniel Boone*…

   Comment by dca2003311@yahoo.com — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

10. Crap your pants???!!!!
    First off carrying that bear spray is the best idea here. While carrying a second large caliber rifle is unpractical what about a handgun? Six shots from a a .44 mag into a 250 pound black bear’s chest will witout a doubt drop it. If can’t buy or access a heavy revolver than aim at his head with the 30-30. It will kill it. Black bear are not that big a .30 size round won’t penetrate it’s skull. But the bear spray is best cheapest most proven way to go.

    Comment by kyle h — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

11. The .30-30 has killed more Black bear and deer than any other caliber. Although it is not my first choice if I am in bear country and I find myself in a predicament with a bear and its all I have, I’ll try for a head shot. With your Savage you get four tries (one round in the chamber and three in the magazine). And your Dad is right, bears can absorb a lot of lead so body shots may not drop him fast enough.

    Lot’s of hunters carry .44 Magnum revolvers as backup in bear country. The .44 Mag. is not better than a .30-30 carbine, so there you have it.

    Good luck and happy hunting.

    H

    Comment by H — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

12. I wouldn’t worry about it too much to be honest,I have seen black bears while hunting where I live in MI,they have always beat feet the opposite way,and although I have no expierence with the Grizzly or Kodiak,I would probably take a sidearm if i am hunting in the Grizzly area,but in black bear areas,no problem,if a sidearm is unavailable I would buy a bigger rifle I suppose.

    Comment by Boris859 — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

13. remember that all wild animals (unless they are rabid or starving) will run away before they attack. but as every hunter should know, bear will attack if you get between them and their cubs, or between food/water. and just like all other animals, if you give it no other escape rout, it will attack.
    now, for your question:
    people use the .30/30 win for black bear withing 100 yards, whether you will believe this is another matter. if i ever hunt where i know that there is a possibility that i will encounter dangerous animals like Kodiak bear i will be hunting with a buddy that has a gun or by myself with a revolver. don’t go for body shots, as bear can absorb bullets like nothing, but if you but two in its head, it will go down.
    when I’m 21, i will be getting my concealed carry permit and a pistol, somewhere in the .38, .40, .357 or .45 ACP area. nothing smaller than a .38.
    good luck hope you get the deer you want this year.

    Comment by burnzwater — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

14. if you aren’t using a ” big” rifle, then you better have a “big” back-up revolver, like a .44 magnum. also, bear spray and know how to take the safety off it and use it in a hurry. especially, keep a good look out while field dressing your deer or better yet, have a friend with you to look out while you field dress your deer. in many bear areas, they will come running to the sound of your rifle because they have become conditioned to know the sound of a gun may mean an easy meal for them.

    Comment by bghoundawg — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

15. your 30-30 deer rifle is also a good black bear gun.
    shoot a bear in the same place you shoot deer, in the heart or head a 30-30 will do the job just fine. as for the 44 mag pistol its pretty marginal. here’s the ballistics. 30-30 150 or 170 grain =more than 1600 ft. lbs. energy .44 mag pistol 7 1/5 in barrel 240 grain bullet = 971 ft lbs energy. use the same bullets for black bear as you do for deer. they probably wont exit as they are made to expand & dump all their energy inside the animal so you wont ruin the hide with a big exit wound.
    if your deer hunting in brown bear country a 338 would be a more appropriate deer rifle or at a minimum a 30-06 with controled expansion bullets, 180 gr. in the chamber for deer, 220 gr. in the magazine for back up. dont take a 30-30 into brown bear country they dont have enough penetration for grizzly.

    Comment by crash — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

16. We usually carry a big Knife as well as a firearm. Big guy + Big knife + Bear = Bloody mess = Hopefully dead Bear.
    We of course live in the land of Daniel Boone who happened to kill bears with a knife. If he can do it ,we sure can , Right?

    Comment by dirtydan2 — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

17. S&W 460 or 500 as a back up pistol. Practicing running and short sprints may help….lol

    Comment by Big D — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

18. 30 30 is plenty for blackbear, also you can get bear pepper spray so you wont have to kill in self defense hopefully

    Comment by tater — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

19. Wear Sneakers,,,,you can’t outrun a Bear,,,,,You just have to Outrun Your Pa.

    Comment by Mad Dog — April 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am

20. I had no gun and saw some black bears in Tennessee. I had watched a show about a man (I can’t recall his name) who studied bears. He said that sometims they get very juvinile and frisky. When the begin to menace you, he said to throw your arms over your head and yell at them.
    So I tried this, I yelled jibberish like I was at some pentecostal sunday meeting. This confused the bear and gave us both a chance to think about a different situation…”I think I’ll go over there, now.” He also said (and it makes sense to me) never to lay on the ground. Bears are omnivores and do eat carrion. I won’t sit still and die without giving the bear “what-for” !
    I would honor the bear but if it came down between us and I had my .45 I would aim for the eye. The eyes are also good for other situations. Most battles will end with a gouged out eye.

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To live with bears, we may need to kill some bears


CRAIG MEDRED 
OUTDOORS

(04/20/09 22:07:41)If you are coming to Anchorage this summer, be afraid — beary, beary afraid.

If you live here, go inside now. Bar the doors. Lock the windows. And start loading the guns.

It’s spring and time for “Bear Attack!”

Discovery Channel, the cable TV network, was all over this last week on its Alaska Week, where everything about the 49th state became X-treme!

Here was the “Bear Attack!” promo:

“In a short time, three people are viciously mauled by a bear in the Anchorage area, and many more have dangerously close encounters. Could one aggressive bear be responsible for all these attacks? What is increasing the rate of bear-human urban encounters?”

In the video itself, “Bear Attack!” producers go on the hunt for an imaginary bear that mighta, coulda, we-only-wish-it-woulda been a “rogue bear” terrorizing the city.

They eventually concede such a bear never existed, before pointing out that it could have.

Why, in Kamchatka last year, or so it is portrayed, a whole gang of bears went on a rampage at a mine, feasting on two guards and injecting terror into the hearts of miners who then apparently locked themselves in the mine tunnels, or so it would appear in the “Bear Attack!” video.

As with most tall tales, there is a grain of truth to this one. The world press had a field day with the mauling deaths of two mine guards last summer.

The Times of London reported it this way:

“Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia’s most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues.

“At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week.

“The co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district are trapped and frightened: the gruesome discovery has left them too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot the bears, is now being dispatched to confront the invasion.”

As it later turned out, the guards were apparently killed, but not eaten, by bears attracted to community garbage. Gatherings of bears to feast on human refuse — garbage to us, easy calories to them — used to be a common thing in Alaska.

If you wanted to see a grizzly on Admiralty Island west of Juneau back before it became a national monument, the easiest thing to do was go to the dump in the nearby village of Angoon. “Packs” of bears were sometimes there feeding.

Over the past two decades, Alaska has made a concerted effort to clean up its dumps so they are not bear magnets. But several bears were killed in and around a waste transfer station in Cooper Landing last year, and a young woman was mauled not far away at the Kenai Princess Lodge. She survived.

There remains little doubt that if you bait bears into a community with garbage or a big run of salmon in a midtown stream and you then throw a bunch of people into the mix, something bad will happen.

As Anchorage discovered last summer, most of the bears will avoid most of the people most of the time. And some of the bears will avoid all of the people all of the time. But you can’t expect all of the bears to avoid all of the people all of the time.

It’s likely one of the maulings here began with a human attacking a bear, albeit accidentally. Teenage mountain-bike racer Petra Davis may have collided — or nearly collided — with a bear in the dark along Campbell Creek, setting off the attack that left her seriously injured.

Not that it was her fault. Davis could have been any of us who mountain bike regularly around Anchorage. One of my Hillside neighbors and I have both come close to T-boning bears on area trails. The risk goes with living in bear country.

How big is the risk?

Discovery contends there were nine violent brown bear “attacks” in Anchorage city limits over six weeks last summer. The reality is more like two violent attacks, six scary encounters and one who-knows-what — the latter being 18-year-old Devon Rees’ street fight with a bear at 2 a.m. out in Eagle River. Rees ended up nipped a few times.

It was pretty clear early on that there was no rogue bear. There were two bear attacks — Rees and Davis — which involved rare, chance encounters between people and bears at very close range in the dark or near dark.

And there were a whole bunch of incidents, including a mauling involving an unusually aggressive Hillside Park-area sow with cubs.

In “Bear Attack!”, Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Rick Sinnott portrays this bear as the “good mother,” which has pretty much been the agency’s position from the get go.

So let’s see, I’m the father of a daughter. She attracts male friends. If I get aggressive with some of them, and then pound the snot out of one because I just don’t like the looks of him, does that make me the “good father”?

It’s time to give some thought to this because bears are emerging from their dens in the mountains above Anchorage. They will soon start coming down into town. Most will try to avoid us. A few will probably prove less than vigilant at all times and thus encounter people before fleeing in terror.

But there is always the possibility there will again be a rare bear unable to grasp the idea of how to behave properly around humans. There are two things that can be done about that bear:

Fish and Game can try to identify it quickly, kill it and remove the threat to public safety.

Or we can give our green spaces over to the bear, much like we did last year; wait for the inevitable mauling sure to come anyway and get ready for the next TV crew to arrive.

This doesn’t seem like a difficult choice. To live with the bears, we may need to kill some bears.

I know this will be troubling to a few, but people killing bears to make our joint living arrangements work is largely the way it has been with Alaskans and bears for about 10,000 years.

Then again, I guess we could go inside now. Bolt the doors. Lock the windows. And stay until the snow flies.

Link

I had no idea. So now what should we carry to defend ourselves? Or should we just not worry about it?

Is Bear Pepper Spray Legal or Illegal to have in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

With more than 2 black bear per square mile and around 900 miles of hiking trails and roadways in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, your chances of having a bear encounter up close or from a distance are quite good. Because of this many hikers and campers carry cans of bear pepper spray they have purchased from either outfitters or online.

Regardless of what these stores or web sites are telling you, it is ILLEGAL to carry, posses or use any form of bear spray, pepper spray, mace or any other irritant gas spray in the Great Smoky Mountains national park. This is not just a “park rule” but a weapons law on federal property – not something you want to break at any cost.

Don’t kill the messenger as I was in complete shock when I learned of this through the kindness of a park employee who read on one of my web sites my recommendation to purchase and carry bear spray when hiking or camping in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

It’s pretty obvious to anyone who hikes or goes camping in the Great Smoky Mountains national park that it is against the law to have a loaded firearm in the park. There are signs at every trailhead and this general rule – make that law – applies to most national parks.

The fact that guns are prohibited from the Great Smoky Mountains national park also appears on the back of park maps, in written park literature, is stated in lectures given by both park personal and volunteers and on the parks web site.

What is virtually impossible for the average park visitor to find anywhere is the fact that you can not carry bear spray or on your person – that includes in your backpack while in the park.

Even more confusing is the fact that if you do a general search on theGreat Smoky Mountains national park web site under “National Park Service for the term “bear spray” it describes the use of bear spray in other national parks.

Yesterday I went to a handful of local outfitters or their web sites in the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville area and they all have bear pepper spray for sale. When I asked not one told me I could not carry bear spray in the park.

As a mater of fact one of the best known outfitters in Gatlinburg whose store is so close it is almost in the GSM national park has on their web site “Bear Spray & Personal Protection For A Safe Hike In Great Smoky Mountains National Park Or In Your Own Neighborhood”.

To be further confusing many other companies online, web sites, hiker forums etc all advocate the use of Bear Pepper Spray in national parks – often specifically referencing the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

As mater of fact it is also used as a reason why guns should not be needed against a bear attack in a national park. I myself recommended it many times as a viable non lethal alternative to guns with a far lower chance of serious collateral damage to others.

I see Appalachian Trail through hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains national park as a group unknowingly breaking this law quite regularly and since their travels take them through various jurisdictions with varying laws they are at a greater risk of being caught up in breaking this weapons law on federal property.

In case you are wondering what the exact law is and if it has been misinterpreted by me here it is:

TITLE 36–PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY

CHAPTER I–NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

PART 2_RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION–Table of Contents
Sec. 2.4 Weapons, traps and nets.

(a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section and parts 7 (special regulations) and 13 (Alaska regulations), the following are prohibited:
(i) Possessing a weapon, trap or net
(ii) Carrying a weapon, trap or net
(iii) Using a weapon, trap or net
Definition of a weapon is described below:

TITLE 36–PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY

CHAPTER I–NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

PART 1_GENERAL PROVISIONS–Table of Contents

Sec. 1.4 What terms do I need to know?
Weapon means a firearm, compressed gas or spring-powered pistol or rifle, bow and arrow, crossbow, blowgun, speargun, hand-thrown spear, slingshot, irritant gas device, explosive device, or any other implement designed to discharge missiles, and includes a weapon the possession of which is prohibited under the laws of the State in which the park area or portion thereof is located.

If you have purchased bear pepper spray through one of my web sites for use only in the GSMNP and you wish to return it, contact me through the site and I will arrange for you to be able to return it for a full refund.

If you own bear spray, don’t bring it into the Great Smoky Mountains national park and I suggest you call any other place you wish to carry it before you bring it there.

If you are not happy with the law banning the use of Bear Spray in the GSMNP, don’t harass the park employees, complain to your congressman or Washington.

As for my recommendation to the national park, I would consider adding a written notice that bear spray or any irritant gas device is illegal to posses in the GSMNP on:

• Park bulletin boards – the first one being at the beginning of the AT in Fontana.
• The black bear page on the parks web site
• Printing it on future bear, hiking and camping literature
• On the back of future issues of park maps where other park rules are located right next to where it says firearms are prohibited.

There are questions as to the effectiveness of Bear Spray and well as potential safety issues for those not properly trained in its use.

I also as that if you have a hiking or camping forum you post in, blog, MySpace or Facebook page you let others know about this law by linking to this page at:

http://yoursmokies.blogspot.com/2009/04/is-bear-pepper-spray-legal-or-illegal.html

As always comments are not only welcome but encouraged.