It’s time for another segment of supercynic reacts to the news. I’m on the side of the bears in this story.
Bear attacks inside Anchorage have people on edge
By MARY PEMBERTON, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 16, 7:38 PM ET
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Even in a city whose logo is “Big Wild Life,” the summer of 2008 is testing residents’ tolerance for large carnivores.
The problem is bears, black bears and bigger grizzlies. So far this summer, three people have been mauled in the city. Before it was called a “city,” it was called the “country” or the “woods”….where bears live.
Some people say humans are to blame for the confrontations and insist that no bears should be killed because of the attacks. Those people have been branded communists and, even worse, environmentalists. However, no one has yet to to throw around the “L” word (liberal). “That would be going overboard,” said local mechanic Skeeter Gentry.
On the other side is a growing chorus of people like Devon Rees, who want something done about the big bruins.
“It is pretty much unsafe to walk around at night,” he said. Yes. Just like it was when you first moved into the woods. Excuse me, the city.
On one recent evening, Rees heard splashing in the creek near his Eagle River home and assumed it was salmon. Seconds later, however, a bear rushed at him from the woods and knocked him to the ground.
“I wasn’t going to lay down and take it. The bear came and tried to fight me,” said Rees, 18, who works in a meat store. “I started punching it in the head, kicking it and elbowing it … I was boxing him using one arm to defend, one arm to strike.” See why this isn’t really a city? Mr. Rees has a creek running past his home. Where salmon frolick. That’s not a city. That’s having a house in the woods.
Residents share the municipality — covering more than 1 million acres and with more than 360,000 people — with more than 300 black bears and 50 to 60 grizzlies. Aggravating the problem is that Alaska’s largest city is snug up against the half-million-acre Chugach State Park, the third largest state park in the United States. This makes it sound like Anchorage fell from the sky, and it just happened to fall into bear country. It didn’t. I checked Wikipedia and Anchorage was founded by people.
“Chugach State Park is a bear factory. It pumps out bears every year,” said Rick Sinnott, the area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
When those bears are hungry, they come into the city to feed on salmon in its many creeks and streams, and Sinnott said that is not likely to change. There we have it. The “city” was built around numerous creeks and streams. That’s called summer camp.
“They are going to be cheek to jowl with us forever,” he said.
Sinnott said efforts are being made to expand the hunting of bears in Chugach. The state park was off limits to hunting grizzlies for 30 years. Last year, three permits were issued but hunters were unsuccessful. Forest rangers later found bear droppings that included hunters’ vests, hats, boots, and assorted camouflage pants that included hunters’ poop in them.
Killing all the bears is not a consideration, Sinnott said.
“It is a state park. People that use the state park, they want to see bears there,” he said.
The city’s wildlife problem isn’t limited to bears.
Mike Vogel, a 51-year-old insurance agent, was stomped by a moose in 2003 on a popular city trail. He then was laughed out of town for getting smacked down by Bullwinkle. A year later, a moose charged at him near the same location, so the 14-year resident of Anchorage shot and killed it. You showed that moose, Mr. Vogel. However, it was later discovered that the moose’s wife had taken out a large life insurance policy on her husband, which was sold to her by her lover Mr. Vogel. Mr. Vogel is now serving 3-5 years for insurance fraud and sharing a cell with his boyfriend, who, ironically enough, is nicknamed “Moose.”
“We need to kill some of these bears and we need to kill some of these moose,” he said.
Vogel accuses Fish and Game of catering to “bunny huggers.” So he shot them, too.
“I think the pecking order needs to be re-established with humans on top,” he said. “What other city in the world has pernicious wildlife running around in its city parks?” Mr. Vogel, I don’t think you’d be “on top” even if we “re-established” the pecking order.
The Daily Wit 