Logs and Bears

Quite some time ago, I found this nice vintage photograph of three loggers posing with their trucks…loaded with some impressive logs.  Naturally, I snapped this up and filed it away with many other similar sorts of things.  It represents some interesting history.   Beautiful old trucks, and logs so big that people today can’t really comprehend them.  Sadly, the famous tree with the tunnel cut through it fell down in a storm not that long ago.  And sadder still, those huge old growth forests are mostly a memory these days.  Today, log trucks have taken on a bit of a mythology of their own, having appeared in various movies–sometimes in a sinister role.  They are, compared to other sorts of loads, certainly a challenge to drive.  But when compared to these old ones in the photo…well….they are just cute little things.  And that was the thought that lead me to create this meme:

Bears.  Alaska is, to a large extent, bear country.  A bear even adorns our license plates.  They are out there.  We humans have carved out villages and towns, but take a short trip and it is still wilderness.  Sometimes, however, the wilderness comes to you.  Generally this is not a problem as most of the various animals do not associate humans with food and so they pay us little attention and if not bothered or threatened they will go on their way without incident.  Sometimes, however, bad things happen.  The foolish person who tries to pet a moose and gets stomped, for example.  Most bears, do not seek out human interaction.  Polar Bears are an exception–they view humans as food and will hunt you.  I’ve seen them up on the slope before, and careful precautions are required.  Down here in the big city, however, most bears that wander into town are black or brown bears who are looking for an easy meal.  It is best not to give them one.  But, these are powerful and agile animals.  Bear-proof trashcans often are not so resistant and this often creates a problem.  The bear will wander in, get into one, have a snack, and move on.  But the behavior is learned and they remember where to come back to dine.  The other bears see this and follow suit.  It quickly becomes dangerous.

This was not always the case.  Sure, bears have always been attracted to a free meal from the trash can.  ….but in the past, the same sorts of men who would fell impressively large trees by hand would just as easily shoot a bear that got too close to home.  Soon, other bears would associate humans with danger and try to stay away if possible.  We have gotten soft.  And so the bears do not fear people…and worse, they have learned to associate us with a meal.

Many years ago, I had one come around my cabin in Palmer.  I was typing up something and saw movement outside.  You know the feeling you get when you think you are being watched.  Just like that.  So I looked again and there’s a bear right by the basement window!  It was cool to see a bear from only 2 feet away.  But.  At the same time.  I promise you never saw a guy get up from a chair so fast in your life!  I promptly ran upstairs figuring I would get my gun and my camera and that’d I’d use one or the other and possibly both.  My bounding up the stairs, however, made enough noise that this bear moved on to someplace else.  Just as well.  I know he traversed the yard a few times because I’d find the tracks.  Once he woke me up by bumping into some pipe and metal I had stacked…made a noise like something was coming through the door.  But I never did see him again.

The next time I saw one close by was in 2011, the bear was on our street in town and had, predictably, gotten into a neighbor’s trash.  As there were kids and others outside in close proximity, I called the police…who directed me to call Fish and Game.  The F&G people did not behave as if they cared about the bear being in the street with the kids playing or that a possible conflict could result.  In fact, they told me they were not going to send anyone out and seemed primarily interested only in trying to get me to give them the home address of the neighbor whose trash the bear had gotten into so that they could send them a citation in the mail.  Useless.  I told them to take a hike and hung up, vowing never to call them again.  A promise I have, thus far, managed to keep.

During the last month, much of which we were away traveling, a bear has been back in the neighborhood.  Several people posted photos on Facebook and such.  Last week, we found someone’s trash scattered into our yard up by the porch…..as if the ursine creature had picked it up to go and decided to stop and eat it here.  But…I had not seen or heard anything.  Until Thursday of last week.  There he was, making his rounds.  Luckily, he found nothing of interest available to eat at our home and so he just wandered by the front door and continued onward.

This is just as well.  I don’t really want to have to shoot a bear and then clean up the mess.  –and no, in case you thought otherwise, a bear that has been dining on trash is NOT tasty.  So…luckily for all concerned, he moved on.  But.  We knew it was just a matter of time.  Such behavior will only continue and eventually escalate as the bear becomes less and less fearful of people.  It is nature.

Two recent bear maulings occurred last weekend.  One at a remote mine site north of Delta Jct…and another at a running race to the south of town.  In both instances the mauling victims were killed.  As a result, the increased bear activity is now being taken more seriously.  Sunday evening the cops were chasing a bear on our street.  Really.  All I could think of was making up song lyrics:

“Bad Bear, Bad Bear…whatchagonnado?..whatchagonnado when they come for you??”

And then…Yesterday, as best I can tell, our porch visitor wandered through the neighborhood again and was dispatched by APD.  It was sadly inevitable, really.  Moral of the story…don’t leave anything out that is an attractant.  And, perhaps another moral…..maybe we as a people, need to get back to being a little tougher like those loggers from long ago.  Don’t drive them to extinction, but perhaps don’t be so hesitant to shoot one when they are roaming neighborhoods in the city.