Bear attacks in northern Alaska (Anchorage, Barrow: eat, land, friendly)

[bkyhi]

Originally Posted by starlite9

When I was a kid growing up in Eagle River, we had a neighbor's big black dog that would come from almost a half mile down the road and knock over our burn barrel and spread ash all over the yard looking for something to eat, all we saw was his butt as he headed for the trees.

One morning my mom looked out the window and saw the dog's black butt sticking out of the knocked over burn barrel and went out and kicked it in the butt. While she was screaming at it to get out of the yard, it backed out of the barrel and at that point she realized it was a black bear with really big eyes, and it took off like a shot. We never had the barrel knocked over after that again. Guess we were blaming the wrong black critter....

Starlite9,
Funny story - great way to start the day.

Originally Posted by Crossfire600

I have never read a bear mauling story were they said that the person attacked was a stupid a$$ for carrying a weapon..

Crossfire - Nice to have protection AND get mauled. Maybe I read that wrong. You mean you've never read a bear mauling story when someone had a weapon, or they got mauled even with a weapon? I take weapon to mean gun, as a knive would count. Might be too early in the morning for me to think straight. Not much sleep either - this morning the downstairs neighbors woke me up moving things around downstairs. Bump, clunk, boom.

Yes if out in country where a bear attack is a likely proposition then gun is good. Be prepared.

But keep things in perspective, otherwise you should never even leave home without a first-aid kit and AED amongst many other things.
Certainly a gun if you live in Oakland, NY City etc. Barrow - in town I feel very safe even with rabid foxes. Even around NARL - after all someone has to be the first to see the bear, just don't want to be too surprised and ambushed. Yesterday morning out there - they've got hugh piles of snow all over the place, great hiding places.

Given the actual small number of KNOWN incidents vs the activity - risk seems pretty low. However never assume it's always going to be somebody else, sometimes it is you.

[Glitch]

I had one bear encounter that I didn't know I had until it was over.

I was fishing for Silvers on the Little Su several years ago. I had already caught one Silver, that I cleaned and put into my backpack on the bank of the river. After a few minutes of fishing for my second Silver, I looked back at the bank and noticed my backpack was missing. My shotgun was next to where my pack had been, and my first thought was "Why would someone take my pack and leave the shotgun?"

When I reached the bank of the river where my pack had been I noticed bear tracks. I grabbed my shotgun and listened, but I couldn't hear any noises that would indicate where the bear was located.

I found my backpack about 20 feet from where I left it, with several rips in it, and missing one Silver salmon. I never did see or hear the bear that was responsible.

I love watching bears, and I truly hope I never find myself in a situation where I need to defend myself, but I will always be prepared to do so if necessary.

[Crossfire600]

Originally Posted by bkyhi

Starlite9,
Crossfire - Nice to have protection AND get mauled. Maybe I read that wrong. You mean you've never read a bear mauling story when someone had a weapon, or they got mauled even with a weapon? I take weapon to mean gun, as a knive would count. Might be too early in the morning for me to think straight. Not much sleep either - this morning the downstairs neighbors woke me up moving things around downstairs. Bump, clunk, boom.

Yes if out in country where a bear attack is a likely proposition then gun is good. Be prepared.

But keep things in perspective, otherwise you should never even leave home without a first-aid kit and AED amongst many other things.
Certainly a gun if you live in Oakland, NY City etc. Barrow - in town I feel very safe even with rabid foxes. Even around NARL - after all someone has to be the first to see the bear, just don't want to be too surprised and ambushed. Yesterday morning out there - they've got hugh piles of snow all over the place, great hiding places.

Given the actual small number of KNOWN incidents vs the activity - risk seems pretty low. However never assume it's always going to be somebody else, sometimes it is you.

Yup, you read that one wrong. I was trying to point out that if someone gets mauled they are better off having a gun to try and protect themselves than not have one in most cases.

[bkyhi]

Originally Posted by Crossfire600

Yup, you read that one wrong. I was trying to point out that if someone gets mauled they are better off having a gun to try and protect themselves than not have one in most cases.

Thanks,

Sometimes I tend to read too much into things. Worse with less sleep.
I do agree, even if you do get mauled, better then killed.

Of course if your gun isn't handy it won't do much good. At least Glitch's bear was nice enough to leave the gun. Now I'm getting funny images of bear with gun.

http://www.buckleshop.com/images/b45e.jpg

Brian

[Crossfire600]

Originally Posted by bkyhi

Thanks,

Now I'm getting funny images of bear with gun.

http://www.buckleshop.com/images/b45e.jpg

Brian

Were is Nephler when you need him.. His Penguin pic's are over the top.. We need an ASSAULT BEAR Neph! Get to work on the graphics program.. Something mean, something fierce carrying a 50 cal with some body armor.

[stiffnecked]

I can't find any still pictures to go with the Utube.


YouTube - Woman gets mulled by a polar bear

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

I can't find any still pictures to go with the Utube.


YouTube - Woman gets mulled by a polar bear

Here is the story behind the video....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Binky.GIF (broken link)
Binky with tourist shoe in his mouth....

Alaskans rally around polar bear that mauled


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)- A polar bear that chewed on a couple of folks
may seem an unlikely cult hero. But this is Alaska, and, well, things
are different here.

Not that people don't feel sympathy for those nursing their wounds,
it's just that Alaskans think you get what you deserve when you act
stupid around a wild animal - even one that lives in a zoo.

"I feel sorry for the people who got hurt, but in both cases it was
their own fault," says Sammye Seawell, director of the Alaska Zoo in
Anchorage, where Binky the polar bear lives.

The first problem arose in July, when an Australian tourist paid a high
price for venturing too close to Binky's cage.

The woman was climbing over the second of two safety rails to get a
close-up photo when the 850-pound bear stuck his head through the bars
and grabbed her in his jaws.

She escaped with a broken leg and bite wounds. Another visitor caught
the scuffle on videotape, including a shot of Binky pacing around his
pen later with the woman's red and white running shoe in his mouth.

That attack spawned a T-shirt featuring Binky, the shoe and the words
"Send more tourists - this one got away.

Alaska shook its collective head and chalked the mauling up to tourist
naivete. The woman later earned a measure of local respect by admitting
she was at fault and promising not to sue.

Six weeks later, the 20-year-old bear was back on the front page. Two
Anchorage teenagers decided - apparently after a long night of drinking
- to take a dip in the pool Binky shares with his furry companion,
Nuka.

Police say the pair snuck into the zoo and were stripping down in front
of the cage when Binky showed up and locked his jaws onto one of them.

The teen was pulled away by his friend, but not before Binky had left
him with leg injuries. Both teens face trespassing and underage
drinking charges.

Since then, it's been take-no-prisoners Binkymania.

There are jokes - "The state won't be asking for any jail time for the
kid - it already has its pound of flesh."

There are more hot-selling T-shirts - "Binky for Governor: Take a Bite
Out of Crime." There is music - a local comedy revue worked up a rap
song by "Bad Blood Binky" that includes the lines "Drink a case of Bud
and act real cool - Like a teenage mutant brain-dead fool."

There have been editorial cartoons - one shows Binky saying to Nuka,
"Mauled teen-ager, my butt - how about 'Hero bear prevents youth from
drowning?"

And there have been letters to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News.
Lots of them, all pro-Binky.

"When foolish people place their name on Binky's dinner menu, we should
have the decency to allow Binky to eat his entire meal, in peace," one
said.

Another encouraged zoo keepers to set aside a day for people to come
and play with Binky if they want to: "This program would solve two
problems. The food bill for Binky would be reduced and the test scores
for our schools would certainly rise.

Zoo director Seawell says she's gotten more than 100 letters from
around the world, and not one of them blamed the bear.

To protect the bears from the visitors, the zoo has erected two strands
of electric wire outside the cage and installed a motion detector that
blares an alarm.

____________________________________


Added this photo of Binky later on....

Binky died later, it appears that someone may have poisioned him as well as the zoo's elephant that started the zoo back in the 1960's.

[Captain Crunch]

Didn't that elephant get a military relocation flight down to Oregon about a year ago....?

To protect the bears from the visitors

thats funny....

[rotorhead]

Yup, Maggie the elephant has moved on to warmer pastures...in California last I heard. Brought up to Alaska by random chance (won in a contest I believe), victim of declining health, ignoring the brand-new exercise equipment brought in for her, increasingly mopey in the winters, retired to warmer climes in her "golden years"...reminds me of about half the old-timers from around here!

While I'll admit that I have no direct experience in the matter, I'd bet the average Barrow resident is far more likely to subjected to a predatory cab driver than a polar bear attack. The good news would be that you're far more likely to get through with your skin intact. The bad news is that the contents of your wallet might not make it. Of course, even the steeliest cabbies can't hold a candle to the natural apex predator of pocketbooks, that'd be a tossup between lawyers and legislators. Not that there's a whole lotta difference between those two categories these days.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Captain Crunch

Didn't that elephant get a military relocation flight down to Oregon about a year ago....?



thats funny....

No, that was the second elephant. The first died "Misteriously"... They quit letting kids throw peanuts to the second one after that, and put up a glass devider....