Bear-kill article underestimates Anchorage-area toll

In Tegan Hanlon's recent (Nov. 12) news story about the unusually high kill of Anchorage-area bears in 2017, she underestimates the toll we humans have taken on our ursine neighbors this year, especially black bears.

Though appallingly high, the count of 34 bears — all but three of them black bears — that Hanlon discussed includes only "public safety" kills within the municipality. Hunters have killed another 47 bears in Game Management Unit 14C, only five of those brown bears (or grizzlies, if you prefer). Though the boundaries of GMU 14C are slightly different, the Department of Fish and Game's Ken Marsh notes that it "largely shadows" the municipality's borders; they're essentially the same.

So our species' 2017 kill of bears in the Anchorage municipality is closer to 80 bears, not 34, with black bears being the target in 73 instances. Yes, the circumstances differ, but the total is disturbing.

Especially unacceptable is the public-safety kill. Here again, Hanlon seems to downplay the impact of us city and suburban dwellers, when right up front she describes the muni as "a vast area that spans from Eklutna to Portage and includes many thousands of acres of wilderness." In fact Fish and Game statistics show that all but four of those kills occurred in urban or suburban areas, the exceptions being the four black bears that state personnel killed following the mauling death of Patrick "Jack" Cooper along Bird Ridge in early summer.

I suppose it's not surprising that we city folks killed so many black bears, given Cooper's tragic and horrific death, followed one day later by the mauling death of geologist Erin Johnson in Alaska's Interior.

["Really odd:" Two fatal maulings in two days by Alaska black bears]

The odds of two people being killed by Alaska black bears — apparently behaving in a predatory manner — in even a single year are astronomical, never mind back-to-back days. Yet it appears many and perhaps most Anchorage-area residents don't see it that way. The evidence suggests a lot of people became more fearful of Ursus americanus following those maulings, despite the fact that they are by nature much shyer and less aggressive than grizzlies and rarely present a danger, even when surprised at close distance.

Yes, it's good to be cautious and follow "safe practices" in bear country, which includes all of Anchorage. If you do so, almost always both you and the bear will walk away unharmed. It's also true that some tiny percentage of black bears are "rogue" animals that don't behave normally, but I'd argue they are far fewer than the rogue humans in our midst.

Many of Alaska's urban residents either don't understand the differences between black and brown bears or they simply don't believe the species behave differently. To them a bear is a bear and that means serious danger. Such mistaken beliefs become easier, or simpler, to embrace after attacks like those that killed Cooper and Johnson, no matter how exceedingly rare they are.

I need to make one other point. Or rather re-emphasize it. Whatever the motivations of those who killed bears "in defense of life and property" (so-called DLP kills), the majority killed for public-safety reasons in the Anchorage-area this year had become so-called "garbage bears."

[Black bears attracted by trash are shot and killed in Anchorage area]

Yes, the combination of bears and garbage is a big problem. So is irresponsible human behavior.

Although it's usually labeled a "bear problem," bears getting into trash is just as much a human-caused problem, if not more so. We all should know by now that leaving garbage, dog food and even bird feeders outdoors while bears roam the local landscape invites human-bear conflicts. And with increasing numbers of locals now raising "backyard chickens" their proper care is another growing concern. But many folks who live here somehow remain ignorant or, more likely, just don't care. And some believe that bears don't belong in human-populated areas and so refuse to do anything to accommodate them.

The high kill of Anchorage-area bears is to me a regrettable thing. And to a large extent, it's a needless waste of life that can be avoided if we 1) make a greater effort to more responsibly take care of our trash and other bear attractants; 2) learn more about bears and also learn from them, which I believe will lead to greater tolerance for their rightful presence in this landscape.

Based on my experiences with them, it's long been my belief that bears are far more tolerant of people than we are of them. Sadly, state statistics for 2017 again demonstrate that to be true.

Anchorage nature writer Bill Sherwonit is the author of more than a dozen books, including "Alaska's Bears" and "Animal Stories: Encounters with Alaska's Wildlife."

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