Area wildlife biologist Ryan Scott suspects trash may have attracted the bear to the home. "I can't be for sure of that, but when I arrived on scene residents were picking up garbage," he said.
Police heard about the bear at 11:26 p.m. Friday in the Switzer Village trailer court, said Sgt. Chris Burke. Scott estimates he arrived at about 12:15 a.m., finding the bear behind the trailer.
"It really didn't have anywhere to go," the biologist said. Scott said the animal was euthanized.
Juneau had a quiet summer when it came to bear encounters, Scott said. "We had a bumper berry crop. We had good salmon runs. Lots of natural foods available."
But calls to Fish and Game have increased in the last 10 days to two weeks, he said, as those foods disappear and bears get ready to hibernate. Scott had been preparing to look for a different bear -- this one spotted downtown -- when he got the call about the trailer park bear.
The roughly 250-pound bear was likely the first that Fish and Game has killed this year because of its behavior, Scott said, as opposed to bears that were killed due to injuries or that were hit by cars.
"He was an adult male. He had gained entry into a home or had started to go into a building," Scott said. "You know there's concerns that that kind of behavior you just can't change."
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