Here in the Great Land, the snow is finally melting (it won’t be all gone until late May, but still), and the bears are emerging from their long winter naps. Only a few days ago, a friend sent us a photo of a fresh grizzly track, in the snow next to their garage. In some areas, especially around the state’s largest city, Anchorage, deep snows are making it hard for bears to find food.
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Bears emerge from hibernation hungry; they basically observe two seasons – eating and hibernating – and they wake from hibernation ready to start the summer’s eating binge, to lay on fat to get them through the next winter. That can drive them into human-inhabited areas, which can be a problem.
As Anchorage begins to warm after a winter that has brought near-record amounts of snowfall, bears are waking from hibernation.
The annual emergence of bruins around the city — even with snow still covering many trails — is prompting authorities to warn residents to keep their distance from the animals.
Bears this spring have so far been reported in Eagle River, Hillside, Government Hill and on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Anchorage-area wildlife biologist Cory Stantorf on Wednesday. Brown bears typically begin waking up around Anchorage in the beginning of April and more black bears will begin to appear closer to the beginning of May, he said.
Up here in the Valley, the bears usually start emerging a week or so behind Anchorage, but they’re out and about now. We don’t have any trees that bear fruit, so that’s not a worry, but bears can make a meal out of almost anything; there’s something almost everywhere that will attract them. This time of year, not only are they hungry, but dealing with the snow still on the ground is a challenge for them; they are, after all, walking around bearfoot.
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Human trash is a common target for hungry critters, and if people leave their trash outside and unsecured, well, they’ve got trouble a’bruin.
The Anchorage Police Department on Tuesday shared a photo an officer took Monday night of a black bear in a dumpster in a Government Hill parking lot. A crowd of people had gathered to gawk at the animal and snap pictures, many getting far too close to the bear to be safe, police said.
If you see a bear in a dumpster, it’s best to paws, then back slowly away. The bear in that Anchorage dumpster eventually left, fortunately without harming any of the humans who really should have known better than to approach it; we can only pawstulate that the bear was of a more patient and tolerant nature than most of its kind. He was, after all, just following in the pawprints of his forebears.
Blacks are one propawsition, but grizzlies are something else entirely. (We’re about 750 miles south of the nearest polar bears.) Grizzlies are big, can run 35mph, and can rip the door off of a pickup truck; bear in mind that they are also out, about, and looking for food. They’ve been bearied in the snow for months, and if you see one about now, it’s best to give him a wide bearth.
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That’s the bear truth for now. I hope all these puns won’t prove to be an embearassment.