The 61-year-old man was flown to an Anchorage hospital for treatment of his injuries, troopers said.
A Wales resident shot and killed the bear. With the loss of sea ice and the ocean staying open later in the year, polar bears have been spending more time on land, which increases the chance of human encounters.
The man was injured on his face and hands. Two members in the skiers party assisted with his injuries and communicate for help in 15 degree temperatures with sunset approaching. It was not immediately clear what triggered the mauling about 10 miles northwest of Haines.
“Right now the people who have dogs in their yards are very concerned. This is happening at night when it’s dark, so everybody is on edge.” - Tanana First Chief
A wildlife biologist believes a lynx that recently approached a young girl may have been a juvenile. The girl’s father said he’s now on higher alert after the encounter.
When he heard something had bitten his sister, Erik Stevens grabbed a light and went to investigate. "I shined the headlamp and opened the lid, and right there at the level of the toilet seat was a cinnamon-colored bear face, big enough to fill the hole."
A family of five black bears is roaming an Alaska neighborhood, toppling trash cans as the group rummages for food and scaring some residents who believe the animals are the same ones seen in the area last summer.
Two abandoned harbor seal pups were found on beaches near Haines last week. Tracy Mikowski, at Haines Animal Rescue Kennel, said two abandoned seal pups in a single week is unprecedented
A second whale has been found dead floating in the middle of Turnagain Arm, just two weeks after a juvenile humpback whale was found dead on the Arm after stranding itself twice.
“The fact that an otter attacked a person was certainly surprising,” said a wildlife biologist with Fish and Game, who added that it’s hard to know what the motivation behind the otter’s “unusual behavior” was.
Half the bears were killed by people who said they were defending their lives or property. The other half were killed by police, park rangers or wildlife biologists.
Two brown bears were killed in Haines last week, bringing the total killed outside hunting season in management unit 1D this year to 26. Bear calls to police have increased by about 600% compared to past years.
The National Park Service said a 22-year-old Ohio man was salvaging moose meat when he was killed in the national park’s first recorded fatal bear mauling.
Aerial surveys this September and October show the bowheads aren’t where they usually are.
Patrick Jones, wildlife biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game, said he has heard of dogs killing moose, caribou and a days-old musk ox calf, but nothing like this attack.
Residents speculate the black bears are venturing into town because they're hungry, after a poor run of pink salmon and rainy weather that hurt the abundance of berries, limiting food for the animals.
The man was walking his dogs on a well-used trail when he came across a sow with two cubs, a Fish and Game assistant area wildlife biologist said.
Chris Flickinger says the number of animals killed by bears is way above average, causing a sizable financial loss.
If high temperatures melt snow and that leads to a bear’s den getting flooded, that’s another reason the bear might head outside. It’ll likely try to find another den, Farley said.
Thinning sea ice has driven more than 50 polar bears ashore on an Arctic archipelago in northern Russia, causing chaos for the local population.
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