APD Puts Down Black Bear in East Anchorage Neighborhood

July 25, 2012|by Abby Hancock | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A black bear sow was shot and killed by Anchorage police Tuesday night, after it roamed an East Anchorage neighborhood, rummaging through garbage cans.

Residents of the neighborhood near Baxter Road say the sow and its three cubs have been coming around a lot lately. Fish and Game is investigating the incident and according to wildlife trooper Bret Ledford, it is unclear if the bear that was put down is the same bear that was seen earlier in a yard, down the street.

Bill Casey says he yelled at the black bear as it was trying to climb his fence. That’s when it came toward him, and he shot at it.

“I had no intentions of doing anything except trying to protect myself and if the bear had gone this way, there wouldn’t have been a confrontation, but he came at me,” says Casey.

Ledford says garbage is attracting the bears and once they find a food source, they will likely keep coming back.

“Bears right now are very mission-oriented to go after food and if you take away the food source, you’ll take away the problem,” says Ledford.

Some residents, like Sara Alborn, say bear-resistant trash cans could fix the problem, but Solid Waste Services, the trash collection run by the municipality, does not offer them.

“By adding bear-proof cans, you have to have a second person to get out of the truck and open every can before you service it so in doing so, it would double the cost of collecting garbage,” says Mark Madden with Solid Waste Services.

Alborn says not every home on the street has a garage to store their trash cans and each resident is required to use the trash cans provided by Solid Waste Services. Fish and Game officials say keeping trash inside a garage or house is one way to help keep bears away.

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