For the second season, a mother bear and two cubs have been feeding on dumpsters in Skagway. After bluff charges and damage to property, two of the bears were put down. KHNS  spoke to a bear expert about the issue.

 

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Alaska State Troopers gave permission for the Skagway Police Department to dispatch a female brown bear and her two cubs. On Aug. 28, the sow and one cub were killed by police.

Carl Koch is a biologist for the state department. He says relocating the bear family wasn’t an option.

“We’re talking about a brown bear sow with two cubs that’s been getting unsecured dumpsters for two years and has escalated her behavior,” he says. “One story was she nearly ran down someone on a bicycle. I heard other stuff about messing with vehicles and things like that. And so, if we were to take that bear and move her and her cubs, first of all, it takes a lot of resources. But more importantly, we’d be moving a serious problem and providing it to somebody else.”

Koch says that oftentimes bears that are moved find their way back to their original home. 

“In I think it was the late 1990s before I worked for the department, they relocated a whole bunch of bears from the Haines landfill. And nearly all of them ended up, you know, back and deceased within a year’s time.”

Koch, whose office is in Juneau, has made several trips to Skagway and says the local police department and National Park Service have been working to educate the town about bear safety. He says one of Skagway’s biggest challenges is visitors and seasonal staff unfamiliar with bear protocol.

“Things like a salmon bake needs to be practically, you know, a fortress to help protect it from bears and keep all the folks safe,” he says. “I’m not trying to blame it all on tourism. It’s just every community has its weak spots, and it really takes everyone to cooperate and secure stuff the best they can. And garbage is, of course, always one of the biggest things.”

Koch wants to see commercial dumpsters chained shut and bolted to the ground. According to borough code, residents shouldn’t put out trash cans until the morning of their pick up. Electric fences are available to borrow. Koch also encourages residents to keep food out of vehicles and lock doors. He invites anyone with a problem securing a specific site to contact his office for help.

Koch is worried the cycle of what Skagway has dubbed “trash bears” will continue.

“If you don’t address the problem properly, another bear is definitely going to take its place someday,” he says.

Bear-proof trash cans are available for purchase from City Hall, as well as bear-proof lids for commercial dumpsters. The lids cost around $1,000 and cans range from $270 t0 $305.