After 3 Maulings, Anchorage Mulls Bear Policy

By Jess Kilby, Newser Staff

Posted May 11, 2009 8:09 AM CDT

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After 3 Maulings, Anchorage Mulls Bear Policy — Grizzly bears at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, Alaska try to get into a bear resistant trash can being tested at the zoo on Friday, May 8, 2009. The test is in conjunction with the zoo's bear aware program that teaches basic bear safety concepts. The bears failed to get into the trash can. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

Anchorage has long been a bear-friendly town, but with three uncharacteristic maulings last summer some residents want a more aggressive wildlife management policy this year, the AP reports. The city of 285,000 is also home to more than 300 bears and borders a national park that officials have called a “bear factory.” The city has increased the number of bear-hunting permits to 10 but says that’s enough.

"The people that want us to shoot all the bears in town, that is unreasonable," said a wildlife official, who hopes no more than three bears will be killed this year for the sake of population control. "We don't kill bears in retribution. We try to examine each case."
(More Alaska stories.)

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