Alaska News

Brown bear escaped from wildlife center near Portage

According to The Associated Press (via CBS News), a search is on for a 2-year-old, blond Kodiak brown bear that went missing Tuesday from the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a wildlife sanctuary near Portage, about 40 miles south of Anchorage.

The center's executive director Mike Miller said that on Tuesday, the electric fence was turned off for maintenance, and something apparently spooked the 300-pound bear, named Shaguyik.

Center spokesman Ethan Tyler says the center and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are searching for the bear by air.

Tyler says Fish and Game advised the center to hold off announcing the escape in part to avoid congestion in searching for the animal.

The bear was last seen in the mountains between Placer and Portage valleys.

Read a bit more from the initial report, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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