A Bear was Put Down at the Buskin River

Lisa Hupp/USFWS

Mitch Borden/KMXT

Recently, Alaska State Troopers killed a bear along the buskin river because it was harassing fishermen. Sergeant Todd Mountain of the Wildlife Troopers says they got a call about the situation and dispatched two officers to see what was going on.

They found a young male bear aggressively going after people’s catches at the Pump House Hole section of the buskin.

“What he was doing was chasing people out of the way. Trying to grab fish. He ended up having 3 or 4 different people kinda pinned up against the big rock at Pump House Hole.”

The troopers put down the bear and no one was hurt. The troopers hadn’t heard any reports about this bear before this, but Mountain says fishermen told the officers it’d been harassing people for around a week.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has a system where if a person sees a bear they can report it to ADF&G, the kodiak police department, or the Alaska State Troopers. This system is effective, according to Mountain.

“It’s actually helped quite a bit. It gives us all an overview of where these bears are hanging out and what they’re doing.”

Troopers do not often put down bears. Only when they are threatening public safety. Mountain says the Wildlife Troopers haven’t really heard about any other reports of trouble with bears in or around town.

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