caribou, moose, and BEARS--OH MY!!

Here we are in the metropolis of Anchorage, Alaska and we actually have to worry about bears. Since we have lived here there have been 4 known bear attacks on humans. Two of those were in public parks. One was on a woman who was running on a trail through a park with her dog. None of those attacks have been fatalities (thank the Lord!) but all have been in serious condition and hospitalized.

On Ft. Richardson/Elmandorf AFB you are not allowed to leave your trash out on the curb overnight due to the bear problem. Bears have been known to wander through the neighborhoods and rummage through the trash. You will git FINED if you live on post and leave your trash out. These bears are such an issue! As a matter of fact, the AFB set up a trap using Cinnabons and caught one of the bears. Pretty incredible, and slightly strange.

All of this has put a damper on my need to walk the dogs outdoors. We have learned that the dogs will not protect me, but we draw the bears towards me. Not what I'm going for! I figure if I walk in our Anchorage neighborhood I should be ok since our neighborhood is surrounded by main roads, but I don't know I'll find myself walking on the great trails throughout the city with the dogs. Kind of sad.

This picture is from the National Wildlife Conservation in Girdwood, AK. Notice the bear is behind a fence....otherwise I would not be this close to it!

At the conservation we also saw caribou, bald eagles, musk ox, buffalo and moose. Here's Joelle and Justin by a moose.

And like I said in a previous post, the moose are EVERYWHERE! We've seen at least four on post and have heard of many others on road ways. In our Newcomer's Brief (which I didn't stay for since it was 9am-5pm!) everyone was taught what to do if you encounter a moose or bear. Wow! Never thought I'd need to get educated on that!