Town Bears Mostly Taking it Easy this Winter

Jay Barrett/KMXT

Despite the very warm winter, Kodiak’s road-system bears have largely been keeping to themselves. Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Larry Van Daele in Kodiak said only one has been making regular appearances, but has not been causing much in the way of trouble.

“Well there’s still a bear that keeps coming out around Selief and that Larch area. Seems like it comes out on Tuesday for garbage day and goes around and hits the roll carts and dumpsters and goes back in for a while,” he said. “Again, it’s never been aggressive towards people, but it’s a pretty consistent nuisance.”

Van Daele said the Kodiak Police Department is keeping a pretty close eye on the Selief – Larch bear.

“And if it gets to the point that it’s potentially dangerous or if it’s too much of a nuisance then we may have to take it out. You know we hoped someone would have gotten it during bear hunting season that ended in December there,” he said. “But, nope, it’s still around. Other than that, there’s just occasional sightings on the Buskin.”

There was a bear encounter of another kind last week in Pasagshak, when a Kodiak brown bear was reported caught in a snare near Lake Rose Teade. Alaska Wildlife Troopers and a wildlife biologist from Fish and Game responded and found the bear in two feet of water and snared around its lower jaw.

Two tranquilizer darts did not put the bear out, so the next day the two returned at sunrise and tried to tranquilize it again, this time successfully. The bear was dragged out of the water and the wire snare cut off its jaw. Troopers report the bear did not suffer any severe or lasting damage, and otherwise seemed fit. The trooper and biologist observed the bear until it recovered from the sedation a short time later and left the area.