ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Biologists are actively looking to euthanize a brown bear or pair of brown bears on the Anchorage Hillside that are posing an unacceptable public safety risk, the state says.
The bears have mostly been acting up along the Rabbit Creek corridor and nearby neighborhoods, breaking into vehicles and garages and attempting to get into a home, according to Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Cyndi Wardlow.
“We’ve got reports of brown bears that have been damaging garage doors, trying to enter sheds, and even one who pushed on a front door,” Wardlow said. “Obviously, that is a very serious public safety situation and something that we are trying to respond to as quickly as we can.”
Wardlow called the behavior very unusual and said it’s unclear what is causing it.
“We don’t know specifically how these bears developed these behaviors, but it definitely started with bears trying to get into garages and it’s possible they got into trash or received some other kind of food reward when they did that and learned that that behavior could get them access to a food source that they wouldn’t have had otherwise, she said, adding, “bears are smart and they will continue to repeat behaviors if they get rewarded for them.”
Wardlow is asking residents to report brown bear sightings in Anchorage neighborhoods immediately, particularly in the Rabbit Creek area so that biologists can take action if necessary.
Residents can call 311 after hours and on weekends. During business hours people can call 907-267-2179 or post on the Fish and Game Website.
Wardlow said the department recently put down a sow with three cubs that had been acting out in a different Hillside neighborhood and which neighbors had been keeping a close eye on.
“That sow with cubs had been reported getting into garbage every garbage day and throughout the week for over a month and continuing to show up in the exact same area and accessing trash cans and anything else they could find,” Wardlow said. “Obviously, four brown bears in a neighborhood represents an unacceptable level of public safety risk to ADFNG.”
Wardlow said one of the cubs was euthanized and a second cub was taken to the Alaska Zoo. As of Monday morning, the third cub was still on the loose.
Wardlow said biologists are looking for the cub which was born this year and weighs about 80 pounds so they can take it to the zoo. She asked people to be on the lookout as well.
“In this case, we want to get this one captured as soon as we can before it gets hit by a car or gets into trouble otherwise. So if anybody sees a brown bear cub by itself, we do want to know about that so we can try to get it captured,” she said.
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