Alaska News

Photos: Alaska brown bear wants to buzz the waves on a Sea Doo

It's one of those "only in Alaska" moments that needs a bit of explaining: a young brown bear, perched atop a personal watercraft, looks like he's ready to go for a ride but doesn't have the keys to turn it on. That's the moment that Graham Morrison -- who operates a fishing guide service from his home base in the small community of King Salmon, on the shores of the Naknek River in Southwest Alaska -- caught on camera earlier this week.

Morrison, of Morrison Guide Service, based not far from Naknek Lake on the Alaska Peninsula, snapped the bear in a riding-ready pose while it tried to get its mother's attention in an apparently unsuccessful bid to have her share a fish that she'd caught. He posted the photos on the guiding service's Facebook page.

Morrison said that the young bear climbed onto the watercraft in order to get closer to its mother, who was sitting in the water dining on her catch. At one point, it climbed to the end of the craft and growled at her, in an apparent effort to convince her to give up some of the meal. Then, the young bear fell in before attempting to climb back up on the jet ski. Morrison said that the Sea Doo -- docked at a family boat dock about a mile from the King Salmon airport -- was unharmed during the bear encounter.

The silvers are running in Southwest Alaska, and though Morrison said business has been kind of slow out that way, "the silver salmon fishing has been great."

Apparently mama bear thought so, too.

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