Saturday, April 19, 2014

Guess who just woke up.

Picture taken yesterday morning in Denali.
Courtesy of the Fairbanks Newsminer: 

Bears that wake up hungry after a long winter’s nap aren’t as big a problem in Fairbanks as they are in other bear-infested cities like Anchorage and Juneau but state wildlife officials say it’s still a good idea for Interior residents to do some spring cleaning around their homes to dissuade any ursine intruders. 

“We haven’t had as many problems in Fairbanks as Anchorage,” Alaska Department of Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms said of Alaska’s largest city 360 miles to the south, where it’s not uncommon for bears to be shot each spring for getting into garbage, tearing down bird feeders or ravaging neighborhood chicken coops. 

“With that many bears in urban areas and bird feeders being such an attractant it’s a pretty big deal,” she said. 

The department issued a press release on Tuesday noting that Gov. Sean Parnell has declared April “Bear Awareness Month” and reminding Alaska residents to take down bird feeders, clean up garbage, and store pet and livestock foods indoors or in bear-resistant containers. The release “was written from an Anchorage perspective” but applies to the Fairbanks area, too, said Harms.

As a lifelong Alaskan living in Anchorage, I have a few hard and fast rules in the spring.



1) Get the lawn fertilized, and weed killer applied, as soon as the weather permits.

2) Get those tires pumped up and the bicycle tuned up as soon as the roads are dry.

3) Stay the hell out of the woods until late May or early June.

I love to go hiking, but I don't want to risk my life doing it.

There are a hell of a lot of bears around Anchorage, though people don't often know it, and we have quite a number of really vicious attacks quite close to my house.

I don't really worry about bears as a rule, but that is because I take precautions to minimize any potential surprises.

I hike in open areas, until about mid June or July.

I make a lot of noise and usually have a group of three or more.

And I am always vigilant. Always.

Some people up here think that if they carry a gun or bear repellant, they are safe from bear attack. But the hell they are.

There have been a number of deadly attacks where the victim fired off several shots and still got themselves ripped to shreds.

I don't carry anything, nor by the way do most Alaskans. At least not around Anchorage. 

Personally I think that guns give people an inflated sense of confidence, and bear spray works if you can get a solid hit, but a charging bear moves at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.  Good luck with aiming at a 900 lb mass of fur and claws bearing down on you at that speed while every instinct in your body is telling you to run.

I have been very lucky to only have a few bear encounters, and none of them were particularly frightening.  And I fully intend to keep it that way.

It is great living in a place that is surrounded by nature, and where wildlife is close at hand. However that enjoyment is severely undermined after a violent reminder of just how tenuous our position on the food chain really is.

30 comments:

  1. F U McCain5:02 PM

    So, like, you DON'T go out at night, in the woods, by yourself, to pick blueberries like sarah from alassssska?

    Not fair, really.

    She has that noxious odor that incapacitates all living things. ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I don't.

      Though one of my more harrowing experiences was running into a grizzly while berry picking.

      Fortunately he was full of berries and did not care one bit about chasing and eating me.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:52 PM

      One wonders when Grannie Oakley will be full of berries and leave the rest of humanity alone.

      Delete
    3. I’d be very careful. The man who built our house always vacationed in Yellowstone, and they have grizzlies. One afternoon, he saw one coming toward his father, sons, and himself. He got his father and sons into a tree, then sprinted away, causing the bear to chase him. He was an athlete and either outran the bear, or it got bored and stopped.

      My father always warned against interactions with bears because they were “stupid.” That sounds appropriate.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous7:19 PM

      They are not stupid. They will protect their young however. (Unlike someone we could mention.)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5:03 PM

    That is a beautiful picture!
    Gee maybe Saree can go for a "jog" in Denali? She's a "mama grizzly"? She isn't afraid? IS SHE?
    Hey Saree, go jogging in Mt. McKinley National park! Bring the toad and barstool with you & don't forget Willow....
    A family picnic :) In Alasssshka!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:29 PM

    Sarah picked the Mama Grizzly as her symbol. Does that mean that Sarah goes into a cave and hibernates for the winter? If only she would disappear for a few months every year. And good luck turning her metabolism down to the sleep mode from her usual frantic mode.

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  4. I don't have to run faster than the bear....
    I just have to run faster than you....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous5:58 PM

    Trust me, you're probably still safer out in the berry patch with hungry bears than you are here in most cities in the lower 48.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:18 PM

      Why Sarah? Because your camera crew scared all the bears away? Because frankly, you and a gun and a berry patch don't sound like a real safe place to be.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:47 PM

      I'm 5:58.
      7:18 and 6:20 below: WTF are you two talking about?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:55 PM

      LOVE the sarcasm, 5:58 PM!
      Where's the lil' coward hanging out now?
      Yeah, the lower 48 bein' all queen-like.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous6:20 PM

    You're a joke 5:58. Bet you haven't ventured out of your mental cave or is it mommy's basement in decades.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:13 PM

      5:58 The scariest places in the USA are where the gunnutz are. Here's a 4/17 post that I copied & pasted directly from FB from someone whose wife was recovering after surgery and was still in a hospital. It is a big city hospital.

      "Everyone say a prayer for me. My wife and I had just laid down for a nap at the hosp. Boom the door opens and this guy comes in and says he is the hosp chaplain goes oh I woke you up. Do you want to pray? I said NO!! He looked surprised and left. Only after he left did I arouse enough from my sleep induced stupor to realize what he said. Don't people knock any more? Maybe the sound of me cocking my gun scared him off also."

      WTF? The man admits that he was not awake enough to realize that the hospital chaplain had asked if "they wanted a prayer" but also says that he cocked his gun as the man. In his sleep induced stupor, he cocks his gun?!! WTF! He takes his concealed weapon into a hospital?! The old fool is 71 years old, alternates 10 or 12 daily posts between RW propaganda and prayers. HE and his cowardly type are the people making cities and towns unsafe. "Pray for him"? I don't think so, if prayer works it should be for someone like the pastor who was just doing his job.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:25 PM

      Whoa, did you just wake from hibernation? You're cranky.

      Delete
  7. fromthediagonal6:27 PM

    Happy Spring to all... No, while I do not wish a close encounter with a cranky, hungry, end of hibernation bear on anyone, I do hope that any and all of you who live in bear country will eliminate any attraction your presence may cause in their environment. May we always remember that we are the intruders.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anita Winecooler6:38 PM

    I will never, ever forget seeing a bear attack,maul, and rip to shreds a wounded mountain goat on my first trip to Alaska. I've seen brown bear here in the lower 48 and they pale in comparison size wise to Alaska Black and Polar Bears, especially if they just came out of hibernation, have used their fat reserves and/or are feeding young ones. ,Watching from about two hundred feet away with binoculars from the comfort of a large truck, and you still feel your heart racing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:46 PM

      And knowing that bear would get into that truck just as fast as you get into a can of tuna. If it wanted to.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:31 PM

      would love to see one rip into sarah...

      Delete
  9. Anonymous8:44 PM

    For the last several years, we've had a surprising number of black bear sightings here in western NY. I live in a suburb of Rochester and two years ago a young bear was spotted sleeping in a tree a couple of miles from my house, just inside of the city border near the giant Kodak plant.

    The population of bears has been increasing in the southern tier of the state, and every spring some of the adolescent bears that get 'pushed out of the nest' by mom come north, looking for new territory. They've been spotted in shopping malls, school parking lots and backyards. Fortunately, despite most people's ignorance of bear precautions in this part of the state, no one has been hurt, and the bears usually meander off on their own, out of the suburbs and into more wild areas.

    As much as I loved seeing bears on my visits to Wyoming and Alaska, I'm kind of glad I've never seen them in my backyard!

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  10. But be careful what tree you climb. I knew a young man here in Michigan who was killed by a bear. He climbed a tree to get away from her. Sadly, it was the same tree where she had stashed her cubs.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Bears, cougars, coyotes, etc--we've invaded their homes all over the US and the world, not just in Alaska, as Gryphen may think. Nice segue into St. Francis's Canticle of the Creatures:http://www.custodia.org/default.asp?id=1454

    Pax et bonum

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  12. Anonymous11:55 PM

    I lived my first 40 years in Montana, and the next 20 in Wyoming. Although it was not quite as wild as Alaska, I did have a few bear encounters over the years. I will never forget the smell of them! At least they were black bears (sometimes called brown bears when they are in cinnamon). I have never encountered a grizzly in the wild, nor do I want to. As far as climbing trees, I was taught that you can climb a tree to elude a grizzly, since their size and long claws makes it difficult for them to climb very far. Black bears, however, are pretty darn good at it. On the other hand, they are most likely to just amble away if you don't engage them in conversation.

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  13. Bears are everywhere, God bless them.

    Here in the US, we've invaded their habitat, so we'd best respect them and allow them their space, all over the country. Growing up in the deep south, I was schooled to be on the lookout for black bears in the woods, and to be especially vigilant toward those who showed predatory stalking behaviors. It was common to spot them while I was hiking and later honeymooning in the Great Smoky Mountains.

    Just a few days ago, a woman in Florida was attacked in her garage by a black bear. Horrific news item not long ago about a lady attacked and killed in her home by a black bear in New Mexico, the official "Black Bear State." Property values are sinking in parts of suburban New Jersey because of bears reclaiming their territory.

    Welcome to the club, Gryphen. We share our land with bears, as well as cougars, coyotes, etc. They were here first.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:55 AM

    Which is worse, running into a bear hungry after its Winter hibernation or Sarah Palin with a Blackberry and she's completely out of meth? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:28 AM

      Well for sure only one will ask for money!

      Delete
  15. Have you encountered any moose? I understand they can be pretty dangerous too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All of the time.

      But only charged once.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous9:18 AM

    mama griz still hasn't wished her cub happy b-day, nor has has mini-me mama griz...

    ReplyDelete

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