ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The 2010 bear season is here, and so far the bears are paying the price for encounters with humans in the Anchorage area.

On Friday, an Eagle River homeowner killed a young black bear that sneaked into a chicken coop and killed a bird. This occurred hours after a different bear “mouthed” the leg of a girl at a neighborhood playground near Elmendorf Air Force Base.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says so far six young bears have been shot in the municipality of Anchorage – most of them in Eagle River – over roughly the past two weeks.

The attack on the chicken occurred at about 10 p.m. Friday, as George Drummond sat dozing in front of the television at his home. A neighbor banged on his door and told him there was a bear in his coop.

Drummond, 62, looked outside to see a 150-pound black bear eating his favorite chicken, an Araucana named Goldie.

Drummond said he picked up a garden hose, set it on “jet” and sprayed.

“I was squirting it in the head and the face, and it just looked at me,” he said.

He then fired his tiny .25-caliber handgun four times into the ground to scare the animal away. The bear moved toward his neighbor, Drummond said.

“It kind of made an advance towards him. So he gave it a couple shots with the .45,” he said.

Dying, the bear crossed the road where Drummond said he killed it with two more gun shots from the .25.

A ranger also shot a black bear at the Eagle River Nature Center on Friday, said Department of Fish and Game area biologist Greg Sinnott. “It was trying to get in all the doors and couldn't be driven away.”

A black bear also reportedly walked up to four girls at a playground in the Moose Crossing military housing between Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson, said Elmendorf Deputy Public Affairs Officer Stephen Lee.

“Three of them, I'm told, hit the ground, to kind of just play dead,” Lee said.

The fourth girl stood and talked to the bear, “Trying to make herself as big as possible to scare the bear away,” he said.

The bear, which looked to be about 3 years old, approached one of the girls who was laying down and “mouthed” her leg, Lee said.

The girl screamed and the bear split, running for the woods.

The girl had a mark on her leg but no puncture wounds.

Military wildlife agents searched for the animal but couldn't find it, Lee said.

Playing dead is normally considered a last resort and isn’t a good idea with all bears, said Valerie Connor, conservation director for the Alaska Center for the Environment.

The theory is if attacked by a black bear, fight back, but curl into a ball and protect your neck from brown bears.

via Fairbanks Daily News-Miner – Alaska bears paying price for human encounters.

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BOISE, Idaho (AP) State wildlife managers say they used DNA to locate a radio-collared grizzly bear that attacked an Idaho Falls hunter near Harriman State Park in June.

The state Department of Fish and Game says saliva left on one of the victim’s bite marks was matched earlier this month to a FEMAle grizzly traveling with three cubs in the same area where the attack occurred.

Keith Klingler, 38, was bitten in the right arm when he and two other black bear hunters came across the grizzly June 28. He was treated for lacerations at a hospital in Rexburg.

The hunters were tracking black bears near the Bishop Mountain area of the Harriman State Park.

Wardens say one of the hunters fired a shot during the attack, but the grizzly was found unharmed.

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Jogger survives bear attack

June 10, 2009 11:40am

A JOGGER who was jumped from behind by two agitated grizzly bears on an isolated national park trail seems to have had a lucky escape.

The man – Thomas Nerison, 60, from Kalispell in far north of the US state of Montana – was bitten twice on the leg by one of the bears in a remote area of the Glacier National Park which straddles the US-Canadian border.

Mr Nerison told park rangers he was bitten about 9.45am on Sunday when two grizzly bears charged up from behind while he was jogging on the Lake McDonald Valley Trail on the park’s western side.

He said the bears appeared to be running from something that startled them.

Mr Nerison was able to walk to a nearby road, got a ride from a visitor back to his own car and then drove himself to the hospital.

His wife, Doreen Nerison, said her husband had emergency surgery at Kalispell Regional Medical Center after a grizzly bit him Sunday morning on the calf and thigh of his right leg.

While Mr Nerison was released from hospital Monday night, Ms Nerison said her husband’s doctor had told him he would likely undergo a second operation on Wednesday.

Ms Nerison said her husband had been wearing heavy running tights, which may have prevented the bear from taking a big chunk out of his leg.

She said the bear pierced his calf and his thigh.

“He’s lucky to have had so few injuries,” she said.

During an interview after the incident, Mr Nerison reporedly told a ranger that he normally carried bear spray.

However, he did not have bear spray with him that day when he encountered the bears.

Park rangers are investigating the incident and, based on their findings, park managers will determine whether any further actions will be taken.

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Bear Attacks And How To Avoid Them

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Bear wanders into Camarillo [Updated]

8:36 AM | May 6, 2009

Residents of a Camarillo apartment complex received an unexpected visitor this morning: a bear.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department received a report at about 5 a.m. that a large brown bear had been spotted wandering through a densely populated part of town, said Capt. Bill Ayub.

Sheriff’s deputies followed the bear into the Avalon Camarillo Apartment complex in the 1500 block of Flynn Road, where they corralled the animal until shortly before 8 a.m. when wardens from the California Department of Fish and Game shot it with a tranquilizer dart, Ayub said.

Residents were advised to remain in their apartments until the animal had been taken away. [Updated at 8:50 a.m.: The 300-pound male was being trucked to a wilderness area in the hills to be released, Ayub said.]

It was not immediately clear where the bear had come from, but Ayub said it probably emerged from a creek bed about half a mile away and wandered into Camarillo in search of food.

“It was pretty far into town, though,” he said.

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Bear goes to lunch on Metro Parkway

FWC to trap and relocate wild animal

By Rachel Myers
rmyers@news-press.com

• Photos: Black bear spotted in south Fort Myers

Home-hunting had caused him to work up quite an appetite. 

After meandering the streets a while, he found a cozy haunt in the shade, where a bag of salty Lays potato chips hit the spot.

But anyone would get self-conscious with a crowd gathering to watch you dine. 

Too bad the spot was inside a Dumpster, the streets were busy and he was a 6-foot, 150-pound black bear wandering just off Metro Parkway. 

“He jumped in the Dumpster, grabbed a bag and jumped out,” said Dan Peterson, manager of Caloosa Tent & Rental Dumpster. “He brought it to the woods and then jumped back in. Once the police showed up, he took off. It was as if he recognized the uniforms.”

Experts with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission say their approach is typically hands-off. But after seeing the bear’s boldness and lack of fear toward people, the decision was made to trap and relocate him.

“This bear has obviously been fed,” said Gary Morse, FWC spokesman. “It’s a shame, because it often leads to nuisance behaviors, and I hate to say it but people need to know: A fed bear is a dead bear. Once they learn these behaviors, it’s very difficult to get them to behave normally.”

The bears are rarely aggressive, Morse said. But if a bear has been fed by humans, it loses its fear and will come dangerously close. 

The Metro Parkway sighting and another reported later Monday on Franklin Street in Fort Myers make four in three days in Lee County, with another also in Fort Myers off Daniels Parkway on Saturday and the fourth at Jenna Avenue and Seventh Street Southwest in Lehigh Acres.

At the latter location, parents were concerned because the bear was wandering close to a school bus stop. But the wildlife commission declined to respond, saying the best approach is to leave bears alone as they rarely are aggressive unless they’ve been fed. 

Media images Monday show a man taking a picture of the bear on Franklin Street less than 10 feet away as the bear relaxes on the edge of the trash bin before diving in, paying no mind to the half-dozen humans gathered around him.

“That’s not normal,” Morse said.

While the hope is relocation, Morse said, unfortunately habits die hard; if the bear continues to find its way to people, it may need to be killed. 

“The prognosis in these cases is usually bad,” Morse said. 

It’s unknown if the bear seen Monday on Franklin Street is the same one seen earlier on Metro Parkway. 

“It could be one adventurous bear, or it could be a couple,” Morse said. 

There are five main black bear territories in Florida, and one of the larger sites is south of Lee County.

Sightings are more common this time of year, Morse said, because mother bears prepare to bear new offspring, and force the young adolescent males away from their home territory so they aren’t a danger to cubs. The young males search for new space, and sometimes end up in urban environments. 

They are attracted to food — any food — including bird feeders, trash and pet food. 

“Bears will do incredible things to get food,” Morse said. “You’ve got to make it as hard for them as possible so they won’t be tempted to get close.”

Peterson, who spotted the Metro Parkway bear after the furry visitor scaled the fence and dove into the Dumpster, said it’s not uncommon for smaller scavengers to frequent the grounds. But seeing a bear was unnerving — and he almost didn’t believe it.

After running away, Peterson returned, just to make sure he had seen what he thought he saw.

“It looked like it was going to knock the tree down,” Peterson said. “He looked healthy. Usually you think of a bear living in the woods as scrawny. But he looked like a healthy animal.”

— Staff Writer Terry Brady contributed to this report.

Additional Facts

Bear sightings in Lee County
View Bear sightings in a larger map

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People or Sheeple?

by  Ted Nugent 

The cute chimp attacks the owner’s best friend and eats her face and hands off. The primate’s owner calls 911 and cries for help that, as always, comes much too late. 
 
A nine year old little girl takes the 160 pound bull mastiff for a walk and loses control. The giant dog clamps down on her head and all people can do is scream and yell.
 
Another nine year old little girl steps off the school bus in rural Michigan and is instantly attacked by a pack of feral dogs, all wearing collars. Again, all anybody can do is scream as the helpless girl’s face and head is ripped to shreds.

The elderly lady leisurely strolls along the causeway like she does every evening, when out from the canal lunges a prehistoric monster, its rows of teeth clamping down on her torso, nearly cutting her in half. The 12 foot alligator drags the gasping senior citizen into the shallow water and devours her.
 
The insane lady lifts herself over the barrier so she can pet the 1000 pound polar bear, but instead is clawed into the jaws of the carnivore as all the zoo goers wail pathetically to no avail.
 
A young athletic gal enters her apartment building in San Francisco after her daily jog and is met by a pair of snarling Doberman pincers that savagely attack and kill her.
 
The Michigan farmer enters the breeding pen of his whitetail deer and is gored and nearly killed by the dominant buck. His cries for help are heard by no one.
 
Two punks taunt the regal Indian tiger in its cage at the San Francisco zoo. The giant killer cat leaps up and over its moat and easily catches and kills one punk and severely injures the other. No one hears their cries (and in this case, that’s just as well.  I’m on the tiger’s side).
 
The animal control officer responds to an emergency call about a pit bull attacking neighbors, but she arrives with only a flimsy net and the powerful dog nearly kills her.
 
A bobcat crashes through a window at a local tavern and begins chasing patrons, clawing and biting people at will. Everybody scurries about helplessly and cannot stop the rabid kill crazy cat.
 
The bicycler pedals through a curve on the bike path near San Diego when a hungry mountain lion catapults onto him, biting his neck, and dragging him off into the brush. Other cyclists scream and holler but the cougar ignores them and kills its victim.
 
A young boy zips up his sleeping bag in the Canadian park for a night of camping, but is savagely attacked by a large black bear. The boy’s family yells and throws pots and pans at the bear who is dragging the helpless boy off into the wilderness, where it kills and eats him.
 
The stoned hippie spends years in the Alaskan wilderness, and in a drug induced stupor, he pretends to befriend grizzly bears and give them names. He and his girlfriend are killed and eaten by his new friends.
 
A family is picnicking in Northern California when a mountain lion stalks their picnic table and grabs the mother by the throat and drags her off into the forest. All anybody can do is scream and yell and cry.
 
I could go on, but I just thought I would mention that carrying a gun might be a good idea. Nah.  Some people are sheeple. 

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State: Cougar killings come down to liability

The debate over what should happen when cougars encounter humans is heating up again. After a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish warden darted a female cougar in the backyard of an Eldorado home April 20 and later euthanized it, angry callers and letter writers lambasted the agency for “trigger happy” tactics. Albuquerque resident Charlotte Salazar thinks just the opposite. Her 5-year-old son was attacked by a cougar last May during a family hike on a popular Sandia Mountain trail. Salazar believes wildlife officers aren’t doing enough to control the cougar population. The debate over what should happen when cougars encounter humans has changed little in 30 years, said Marty Frentzel, public information officer with the state Department of Game and Fish. For the state, the decision over euthanizing a captured cougar comes down to one word: liability. Game and Fish Department officials worry about getting sued if someone is attacked by a cougar that was captured and released elsewhere. That fear isn’t unwarranted. In a 1996 incident in Arizona, a black bear that had been captured, tagged and released into a mountain range near Tucson badly mauled a teenage girl in her tent. The girl’s family sued the Arizona Game and Fish Department, claiming the agency shouldn’t have released a bear when it knew the animal had previously shown no fear of humans. The state settled the case out of court for $2.5 million…Santa Fe New Mexican

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US Geological Survey Releases Bear Safety Fact Sheet

For all you northern hemisphere parents getting ready to take your little troopers out for spring and summer backpacking into bear country (or just to the parking lots of the major National Parks), the USGS has recently published its information sheet for how to more safely deal with aggressive bears. This fact sheet is ostensibly for USGS employees, but it contains good information for anyone who expects to be in bear country.

Some salient statistics showing that bear deterrent is better than a firearm: Those who defend themselves with firearms suffered serious injury in about 50 percent of encounters. Those who used bear deterrent suffered far fewer and less serious injuries and were subjected to shorter durations of attack than those who defended with firearms alone (original research article). I highly recommend leaving the firearm at home (for the non-hunters) and just carrying the bear deterrent, especially when camping with children.

Even better bear safety information comes from the various links in the fact sheet. For instance, you should know that the pepper spray sold as personal defense is not a bear deterrent; pepper spray is pretty much useless against bears. The EPA regulates bear deterrent, so follow that link to get an idea of who sells the good stuff. The Center for Wildlife Information has a good “Be Bear Aware” fact sheet as well.

Regardless of which bear deterrent you carry, you’re safest if you avoid the bears altogether. The Be Bear Aware site has a lot of good information on how best to avoid encounters of the bear kind; explore their sidebar.

Have fun and stay safe!

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I definitely think that people should leave these animals be, but I do think if the bear was charging him he was justified to shoot it. We’ll never know what really happened though.

Roper not guilty in grizzly bear shooting

Crown cannot convince judge not a case of self-defence

Posted By By Hamish MacLean/hamish@canmoreleader.com

Posted 3 hours ago

Hamish MacLean/Canmore LeaderJoe Lucas, and his son Kyle, stand outside the Provincial Building in Canmore after Lucas was acquitted for shooting a grizzly bear in Kananaskis Country in 2007.

A Carstairs man was found not guilty on five charges stemming from an incident in Kananaskis Country at the end of October 2007.

Joe Lucas has always said that he shot the grizzly bear, Bear 103, in the Evan-Thomas area in self-defense and out of fear for his 13-year-old son, Kyle’s, safety — and in Canmore Provincial Court Judge John Reilly acquitted the man Thursday.

Reilly said he had a hard time swallowing the testimony of the Crown’s expert witnesses.

One side of the courtroom, which was filled with both Lucas supporters, burst into applause at the verdict.

While supporters for the conservation officers who brought the charges forward appeared defeated.

After the trial, Lucas called the decision a great relief.

“I thought it went as it should,” he said. “When you feel you’re right, you’re right.”

During Crown prosecutor Bev Shugg’s cross examination, Lucas, who spends most of his time with horses, leading roping events for kids — yet in November acts as a guide and professional hunter of white-tailed deer — became visibly upset and said, “What do you want from me, blood?”

The Carstairs man, who “grew up in the backcountry” near Sundre said he quit hunting grizzly bears years ago. Lucas testified that in his many encounters with bears in recent years he has scared them off successfully, but called the grizzlies in Kananaskis “killing machines.”

Lucas said that when he heard his friend James Carson Nutting calling out that the grizzly bear they had seen charging their horses in a grazing meadow after breakfast was coming around again, he knew he would shoot it.

“I heard him (Nutting) yell, ‘He’s coming right back,’” he said. “That’s when a chill went down my spine and I thought, ‘I’m being hunted.’”

Bear 103 was an average-sized sub-adult grizzly sow at 268 pounds (122 kilograms) she had been a part of the aversive conditioning program employed by conservation officers in the Alberta park and had been responding well to the conditioning court heard.

Michael Gibeau, carnivore specialist for Mountain National Parks, listened to the testimony of Nutting and another member of the hunting party, Bruce Pierson, as well as four conservation officers.

He said that bears were no more unpredictable than any other animal and said that the bear was not acting aggressively, but perhaps was being cocky or testy when it charged the men’s horses.

Further, Bear 103 was hoping that the men would “yield the trail” to it, Gibeau said.

He said that the bear was in the process of being taught to avoid people and that the bear if left alone, would have disappeared.

“That’s my impression: that the bear was trying to move around camp and that that’s what it was doing until it was shot,” he said.

Nathan Brown, a conservation officer and the lead investigator of the incident testified that the hunting party’s campsite was a mess when he arrived the day after the shooting, with food left out, and that there was more that the party could have done to scare away the bear than shout at it.

None of the group was carrying bear spray, he noted, and he decided to investigate Lucas’s story after surveying the area.

“There was no way he could have seen what the bear was doing until he entered the sight of his scope,” he told court.

The Crown prosecutor suggested that if the bear had not been wearing a collar, Lucas would not have reported it and instead would have kept its hide as a trophy.

She said that the angle of impact of Lucas’s bullet was a telling detail in the case. Lucas hit the bear broadside.

“I could credit you with self-defense if it were anything other than 90 degrees,” Shugg told Lucas, saying there was no way the bear could have been charging him when shot at a distance of 14.1 metres.

“He decided he would take the ‘noble way out’ and report it as a bear attack, when in truth, it wasn’t,” she said.

The judge, though, was unimpressed by the list of expert witnesses that came before him. He called one conservation officer “evasive” when asked about the bear’s supposed signs of aggression and expressed disbelief with Gibeau, “when he refuses to admit that bears are unpredictable.”

Reilly suggested that the familiarity of the experts with bears might lead them to the opinion that bears are not unpredictable. But, dangerous, he said, is a proper term for bears.

“When you scare it away, you don’t expect it to come back — and this bear came back,” Reilly said. “He is justified in shooting it.”

After the trial Lucas admitted that this was the first and only courtroom he had ever been in and that the support he received from the Carstairs community, Thursday, was a great boost for his morale. The ranching community he calls home has been tremendous for the past year-and-a-half, he said, with petitions proclaiming his innocence circulated and individuals raising money for his defence fund.