Guess who just woke up.

Picture taken yesterday morning in Denali.

Courtesy of the Fairbanks Newsminer: 

Bears that wake up hungry after a long winter’s nap aren’t as big a problem in Fairbanks as they are in other bear-infested cities like Anchorage and Juneau but state wildlife officials say it’s still a good idea for Interior residents to do some spring cleaning around their homes to dissuade any ursine intruders. 

“We haven’t had as many problems in Fairbanks as Anchorage,” Alaska Department of Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms said of Alaska’s largest city 360 miles to the south, where it’s not uncommon for bears to be shot each spring for getting into garbage, tearing down bird feeders or ravaging neighborhood chicken coops. 

“With that many bears in urban areas and bird feeders being such an attractant it’s a pretty big deal,” she said. 

The department issued a press release on Tuesday noting that Gov. Sean Parnell has declared April “Bear Awareness Month” and reminding Alaska residents to take down bird feeders, clean up garbage, and store pet and livestock foods indoors or in bear-resistant containers. The release “was written from an Anchorage perspective” but applies to the Fairbanks area, too, said Harms.

As a lifelong Alaskan living in Anchorage, I have a few hard and fast rules in the spring.



1) Get the lawn fertilized, and weed killer applied, as soon as the weather permits.

2) Get those tires pumped up and the bicycle tuned up as soon as the roads are dry.

3) Stay the hell out of the woods until late May or early June.

I love to go hiking, but I don't want to risk my life doing it.

There are a hell of a lot of bears around Anchorage, though people don't often know it, and we have quite a number of really vicious attacks quite close to my house.

I don't really worry about bears as a rule, but that is because I take precautions to minimize any potential surprises.

I hike in open areas, until about mid June or July.

I make a lot of noise and usually have a group of three or more.

And I am always vigilant. Always.

Some people up here think that if they carry a gun or bear repellant, they are safe from bear attack. But the hell they are.

There have been a number of deadly attacks where the victim fired off several shots and still got themselves ripped to shreds.

I don't carry anything, nor by the way do most Alaskans. At least not around Anchorage. 

Personally I think that guns give people an inflated sense of confidence, and bear spray works if you can get a solid hit, but a charging bear moves at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.  Good luck with aiming at a 900 lb mass of fur and claws bearing down on you at that speed while every instinct in your body is telling you to run.

I have been very lucky to only have a few bear encounters, and none of them were particularly frightening.  And I fully intend to keep it that way.

It is great living in a place that is surrounded by nature, and where wildlife is close at hand. However that enjoyment is severely undermined after a violent reminder of just how tenuous our position on the food chain really is.