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
The bear tunneled under the zoo’s perimeter fence and broke through the cedar split rail fence around the alpaca enclosure before killing Caesar, according to the zoo’s executive director, Pat Lampi. Another alpaca -- Fuzzy Charlie -- was found unhurt though wide-eyed and skittish.
With few fish and limited berries, bear encounters are high in Alaska's capital city this year.
Earlier on Monday, Maniilaq Association notified Kotzebue residents about the musk ox in a Facebook post, saying that the animal was “roaming around the Kotzebue area, last sighted near ‘old’ teacher housing on the lagoon.” Health officials asked residents to not approach or agitate the animal and to keep their dogs under control.
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.
The dog’s owner waded waist-deep into Taku Lake and was bitten on his hand while pulling the husky-mix away from the river otters,.
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.
Two bears were shot in the Haines Borough this past weekend, both by homeowners defending chickens. Although bear-related calls to the police dipped after last week’s record-setting snowfall, the recent activity suggests this year’s Bearpocalypse is not yet over.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Chris Flickinger says the number of animals killed by bears is way above average, causing a sizable financial loss.
Thinning sea ice has driven more than 50 polar bears ashore on an Arctic archipelago in northern Russia, causing chaos for the local population.
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.
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.
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