ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has euthanized more bears in the Anchorage area this year than last, including three in just the last week.
Early Tuesday morning, biologists euthanized a brown bear it believes caused a trail of destruction in a Rabbit Creek Neighborhood. Biologist Nick Docken said they feel fairly certain they got the right bear but there could be more than one.
“We knew that we were dealing with multiple bears in this region,” Docken said. “We just were unsure how many bears were taking it to the next level of breaking into sheds, breaking into garages, pushing on front doors of homes. And so that question is still out there.”
Docken said the department got several reports of a brown bear in the area Tuesday night, but none included the same level of destructive activity. He encouraged people to continue reporting sightings immediately.
In total, Fish and Game has killed 20 bears in the Anchorage area in 2026, including 12 black bears and eight brown bears.
Docken said most of the black bears were causing damage on JBER and most of the brown bears were killed in Eagle River, including a family of four that was killed after breaking into a home in search of chickens.
In addition to the brown bear killed Tuesday evening in the Rabbit Creek area, Fish and Game euthanized a brown bear sow and one of her three cubs in a neighborhood close to Lake Otis and Lore Road on Sept. 17. Fish and Game said the bears had been getting into garbage for more than a month.
“It was very unfortunate, that sow had three cubs, a lot of people were seeing it,” Docken said. “Whenever you are dealing with a sow and cubs that’s an extra heightened public safety threat. And she kept moving into denser and denser neighborhoods and was reported being seen earlier in the evenings in daylight. I responded to a call and there were kids out riding their bike only a block away from where she was in a different backyard.”
One of the sow’s cubs was captured and is currently at the Alaska Zoo. Fish and Game is still looking to capture the third cub which will also be taken to the zoo while it awaits placement at an outside facility, Docken said.
Unsecured trash and other attractants continue to be constant problems, but Docken said there’s another reason more bears are coming into Anchorage neighborhoods this year: They aren’t finding enough food to eat in the wild.
“I think we had kind of a poor fish, poor berry year, so that contributes to more bear sightings being in town and seeking out those accessible calories.”
Docken said black bears will start hibernating in early October and brown bears will follow soon after, but until then, residents need to be extra vigilant.
“I just really stress people to purge the temptation to put their bird feeders out too early, just be diligent about their trash and their livestock. So we only have to really survive through a few more weeks here of these bears being active. And yeah, hopefully, you know, we can go through the rest of the fall without having to have any serious situations.”
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2026 KTUU. All rights reserved.