Black bear shot from historic apple tree at the Haines Sheldon Museum

A black bear was shot out of an apple tree at the Haines Sheldon Museum and killed on Tuesday morning after Haines police say efforts to bring the bear down peacefully failed. As KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports, the bear had been visiting the museum for awhile, where staff had been working to get an electric fence installed before the bear was killed.

 

A Haines Police Nixle alert went out just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, a large black bear was in a apple tree in front of the Sheldon Museum, and warned the public to avoid the area. 

Wendell Harren, branch manager of First National Bank Alaska, watched the incident with several colleagues from the bank on Main Street. He gave this account on Friday:

“We were all huddled in my office watching it going down, brought out the binoculars, tried to spot the bear.”

His office has large windows facing the museum and apple tree, which is about half a block away across a parking lot. A small crowd had also gathered on the street nearby to watch. Harren says Haines Police Chief Heath Scott was there already, and Alaska State Trooper Colin Nemec arrived shortly after.

“Heath (Scott) was over there, then Colin (Nemec) showed up, the (Alaska State) Trooper, and he was, it looked like throwing rocks at it, in the tree, that’s how we spotted it, where it was in the tree,” he said.

Harren estimates they threw rocks for about 10 or 15 minutes, but the bear didn’t move. Then they took out what appeared to be a shotgun.

“And, it took some kind of a smoke round to get it out of the tree, and when we saw it eventually come out of the tree it was dragging its hind legs. Then we heard several more shots and had to watch them have to put it down out there,” he said.

Haines Police Chief Heath Scott said he wasn’t available to speak until Tuesday. He released a short statement saying it was unfortunate but gave no further details on the circumstance of the bear’s death.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Carl Koch says the mature  black bear had been grazing from the 100-year-old Haines Sheldon Museum apple tree for a while. And museum staff had sought his guidance recently about what to do about it.

“I advised him to get an electric fence, which he could get from your local hardware store or borrow from Fish and Game,” Koch said. “And a fence was borrowed on Monday. And then the rumor I heard was that it was put down outside and maybe stolen and never got set up. And then the next day the bear was in the tree.”

Haines Police verified that museum staff borrowed a fence from the local Fish and Game office. But it was stolen, authorities said. A public records request filed by KHNS for police reports were pending as of Friday afternoon. 

Haines has been struggling with nuisance bears in the community. Last year at least 11 were reported killed in defense of life and property in town, and 16 outside the town site. One of those was by the police chief outside his home last October. The circumstances of which remain under investigation by Alaska Wildlife Troopers.

Alaska State Trooper Colin Nemec, and the Haines Sheldon Museum, did not return calls on Friday afternoon. 

Wildlife biologist Carl Koch explains hazing involves non-lethal means to scare a bear away.

“There are numerous things you can do to haze bears,” he said. “And some are beanbag rounds, they’re designed to cause discomfort, but be able to, for lack of a better way to say it, reach out and touch an animal without using lethal round. And then there’s other sorts of rounds that people can use.”

Koch said that every situation is different, especially in a public setting, and declined to comment about the methods law enforcement used in this incident. He said prevention is the best approach, and recommended a new community fruit gleaning program called Apples and Bears by the Takshanuk Water Council and the Great Bear Foundation.

“They will actually come and pick your fruit off the tree for you if you want them to leave and help you with I think, if I’m correct about this, arrange to put up an electric fence if you need one,” Koch said.

An electric fence was installed after the incident around the museum apple tree. The police chief said via email there would be no citation or penalty against the museum, since a new electric fence has since been erected.

The bear killed at the museum was an adult male black bear. The hide and skull were turned in to the local Alaska Fish and Game office, and the meat was donated, according to the police chief. It marks the second bear reported killed in the Haines community this year.