State wildlife officials say they have captured one of the cubs orphaned when biologists shot its mother Tuesday morning on suspicion that it was responsible for mauling at least one person in Far North Bicentennial Park.
With one of the first-year cubs in custody after the shooting in Stuckagain Heights, biologists are focusing their efforts on capturing the remaining animal, which they say will almost surely die if not captured.
Several zoos in the Lower 48 have expressed an interest in taking the cubs, according to biologists.
The cubs' mother was shot after officials came across the carcass of a trophy bull moose in a Stuckagain Heights yard and confirmed through photos taken on trail cameras that the family had roamed the area of Rover's Run where Anchorage resident Clivia Feliz was mauled Aug. 8.
The cubs bear a distinctive, white collar of fur that helped officials pick them out despite the cameras catching a number of other bears -- and bikers -- using the trail, which the city closed after the attack.
It remains unclear if the shot sow was responsible for the attack on 15-year-old Petra Davis in late June because no one witnessed the bear in that incident.
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
Interactive map: Tracking bears in Anchorage
By JAMES HALPIN