ON PARADE – Children dressed as their favorite animals hold a Sitka Spruce Tips 4-H Club banner as they march down Lincoln Street on Earth Day, Monday. The Parade of Species was held in recognition of Earth Day. It was hosted by Sitka Conservation Society, University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the Sitka Sound Science Center. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly its regular meeting Tuesday approved dou [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
“We want to hear from the public, what they value i [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka schools were notified at around noon today that the city administrator had re [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s track and field athletes faced off aga [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska is getting an infusion of nearly $125 million to build and [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Senate voted unanimously on Monday to make it easier f [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House’s Rules Committee has eliminated, at least temporaril [ ... ]
By DAVID A. LIEB
The Associated Press
A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion in [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Alaska’s three-member, bipartisan congressional delegation is sid [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 23
At 3:14 a.m. a downtown bar report [ ... ]
Vaughn Blankenship
Dies at Age 91
Vaughn Blankenship, a longtime Sitka resident, died Tuesday at SEARH [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
With about a month left before the end of the regular [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The city will hold a public meeting Wednesday for pub [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
With only days to go before the statewide Native Yout [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Daily Sitka Sentinel and KCAW-FM Raven Radio won awards Saturday at the [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
To address a surge in mental health problems among young Alaskans [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
A bill passed Thursday by the Alaska House of Representatives wou [ ... ]
City to Conduct
Relay Testing
The city electric department is conducting systemwide relay testing th [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Another lawsuit that has implications in Southeast Al [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly on Tuesday will consider final reading o [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Competing in their first home games of the season, Si [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Citing what they characterized as unacceptable risks to wildlife [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
The Yup’ik village of Newtok, perched precariously on thawing permafro [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Police Kill Bear, 2 Cubs Prowling Neighborhoods
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Three bears prowling for food and garbage in the Gavan Subdivision were shot and killed by officers Tuesday evening, Sitka Police Department reported today.
Police Sgt. Brad Wheeler said the decision to destroy the small sow and two yearling cubs at 1410 Johnston Street came following reports of the three going onto porches, looking into windows and entering garages.
“Two days ago they tried to get into a house – going on a porch and pushing in a door,” he said.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Steve Bethune said he has been receiving regular reports about bear calls from Sitka police. But in the last few days, he has seen “an escalation of potentially dangerous behavior,” which has included reports of a sow and two cubs in neighborhoods along Halibut Point Road, as far out as Darrin Drive in the 3300 block, and Sollars Trailer Court. Other calls came in from Wortman Loop, Georgeson Loop, and Johnston Street. Their behavior has become more bold, the biologist said.
“They’ve gone from nighttime garbage raids, to more daylight activity, being seemingly unafraid of people, and less affected by hazing efforts,” Bethune said.
Wheeler agreed that the bear calls became more frequent. What concerned officers and Fish and Game was that this group of bears could not be deterred with yelling or various noisemaking devices, increasing the probability of a “negative encounter,” Bethune said.
Three bears rummage through trash outside a Sitka residence. Police later shot the animals, on Johnston Street. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)
The final call to police reported a bear trying to push in a window in the back of a house on Johnston Street, in the Gavan subdivision.
Wheeler said about a week ago residents in the 4600 block of Halibut Point Road tried to haze the bears away by shooting into the air. It didn’t work – and this practice isn’t safe, the sergeant said.
“Ultimately, they have to be destroyed – we can’t let anyone get hurt,” Wheeler said.
He attributed most of the problem to improper care of household garbage, which led to the bears becoming habituated to feeding on it. The problem worsened as bears became undeterred by noise, and had gotten to the point that they were entering garages and in one case going onto a porch seeking food.
Wheeler said the police in these cases defer to Fish and Game, which recommended “putting them down” if there was an opportunity to do it safely, to prevent the bears from injuring someone.
“It’s not that we want to or that it’s fun, we’re doing it because we have to,” Wheeler said.
“I communicate closely with police and I try to give the bears every opportunity to return to natural feeding behavior,” Bethune said. “The police have the green light any time there is an imminent safety threat, to euthanize bears. But they do defer to me. In this case, I instructed them to do that if there was a safe opportunity (to use firearms in a neighborhood).”
In the hours leading up to the shooting of the bears, there were bear activity calls from Georgeson Loop, Charteris Street, Mills Street, and the 2000 and 3000 block of Halibut Point Road.
After the three bears were destroyed, calls continued to come in, police said, with bears reported at Whale Park and at SEARHC Clinic II on Japonski Island.
The carcasses of the bears killed Tuesday night were turned over to the Department of Fish and Game.
Login Form
20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Michael Stringer, environmental specialist for Sitka Tribe of Alaska and a founder of the community garden, takes the concept of Earth Week literally. This weekend he hopes others will share his appreciation for “earth” and things growing in it by joining him in preparing the community garden just behind Blatchley Middle School for another growing season.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
Classified ads Houses for Sale: Price dropped to $36,500 for 2-story, 4-bdrm. carpeted home on Cascade. Kitchen appliances, drapes, laundry room, carport, handy to schools.