After 3 Maulings, Anchorage Mulls Bear Policy

By Jess Kilby, Newser User

Posted May 11, 2009 8:09 AM CDT

(Newser) – Anchorage has long been a bear-friendly town, but with three uncharacteristic maulings last summer some residents want a more aggressive wildlife management policy this year, the AP reports. The city of 285,000 is also home to more than 300 bears and borders a national park that officials have called a “bear factory.” The city has increased the number of bear-hunting permits to 10 but says that’s enough.

"The people that want us to shoot all the bears in town, that is unreasonable," said a wildlife official, who hopes no more than three bears will be killed this year for the sake of population control. "We don't kill bears in retribution. We try to examine each case."

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Grizzly bears at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, Alaska try to get into a bear resistant trash can being tested at the zoo on Friday, May 8, 2009. The test is in conjunction with the zoo's bear aware program... (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

Black bears eat out of a regular garbage can after tearing the lid off at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, Alaska, after the bears failed to get into a bear resistant trash can, May 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

A grizzly bear at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, Alaska tosses a trash can after the bears failed to get into a bear resistant can that was tested at the zoo on Friday, May 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

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We have a real safety problem. The fact they are ignoring it is a time bomb.
- Wanda Phillips, who recently moved to Anchorage from Washington state

I think it was kind of an unusual situation last year in part because I think we had a couple of brown bear sows with cubs in places where we probably can't tolerate them.
- Rick Sinnott, Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist

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