Anchorage police said they shot and killed a black bear and two cubs at a Stuckagain Heights home after the animals broke in last week and tried again twice on Saturday.
Police said they shot the sow on a back doorstep of the smaller of two houses on the property at about noon Saturday as it was clawing at the door. Officers then shot one cub while it was on the roof and a second while it was on a deck. A third escaped into the woods.
Homeowner Madeline Knowlton said her family members don't leave trash outside and they had lived about 20 years in the Farpoint Circle home without any bears breaking in. Then in 2006, one of her sons killed a 275-pound black bear that got inside while he and his wife were sleeping. He shot it while the bear was bounding up the stairs toward him.
Last year, a bear broke into her kitchen. This week, it was the sow and three cubs that was wreaking havoc.
But Knowlton was upset about the shooting of the cubs on Saturday.
"I didn't know they had to shoot the babies," she said. "They were like little teddy bears."
Anchorage police Sgt. Rod Ryan said the cubs were shot because he was told Saturday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that no one could take the animals this weekend.
Fish and Game officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.
It's a sad ending for the bears, but unless they were killed, they would keep returning to the home, Ryan said.
Eventually, they'd hurt someone, Ryan said.
Anchorage police spokeswoman Anita Shell said police officers will shoot an animal when it is threatening human safety or property.
The sow broke into the smaller house for the first time on Thursday, Knowlton said. The bears ransacked the kitchen, leaving candy and other food scraps scattered on the floor and in the back yard.
Installing a dead bolt on the door last week after the bears first visited wasn't enough to keep the animals from returning and trying to get inside the unit again multiple times on Saturday.
"They were trained to know that there was food in there," Ryan said.
When Knowlton first contacted police on Saturday -- at about 8 a.m. -- the sow and one of the cubs took off into the bushes, Ryan said.
"I went up to the door, and there were the two cubs looking at me. I shut the door and called Fish and Game," Ryan said.
On Fish and Game's advice, Ryan let the cubs back outside, he said.
While no garbage had been left lying around outside either house, the dead bolt had not been secured that morning, Ryan and Knowlton said.
Knowlton called police again when the bears returned around noon. This time, the dead bolt was secure and the sow was breaking the door-window glass and tearing down the door frame to get inside.
Knowlton saw the police arrive but she didn't realize the sow was breaking the door. She had stayed inside the main house, snapping pictures through her window of the cubs climbing on her wood-shingled roof and playing on the upstairs deck. At one point, she snapped a photo of one of the cubs walking on a railing past a can of bear spray the Knowltons had purchased to ward off the bears.
Knowlton was still photographing the cubs when she heard the police shoot their mother. Then, they shot two of the cubs.
The third cub fell off the roof and ran off into the woods, Ryan said. It was unclear Saturday whether that cub was injured.
At mid-afternoon, the dead sow was still lying in a pile of debris from the broken door on the back doorstep. One of the dead cubs was still on a deck. The other dead cub was in the yard.
Later in the afternoon, Knowlton said one of her sons cleaned up the mess and dragged the carcasses down to the road for Fish and Game officials to pick them up later. Later Saturday night, however, APD returned and removed the carcasses, she said.
Ryan said no one at the Knowlton home, which abuts the woods on the southern boundary of Fort Richardson, was cited by Anchorage police. He said they did not break any city rules involving unsecured trash.
Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
ebluemink@adn.com