Alaska Bears
Come in All Colors

Alaska bears come in several varieties, from small black bears to the largest on earth, Kodiak brown bears. All these bears live on grasses, roots, berries, ants, fish and other wild animals, large and small. They will even eat carrion, if they are hungry.



Because bears are large, powerful animals, they are all potentially dangerous. But usually only under certain circumstances is there a risk.

Attacks by Alaska Bears:

Though bears have different temperaments like people, it is not their nature to eat humans, except the polar bear.

Native Alaskans often make a camp and wait for a polar bear to find THEM when they want to hunt one.

When you hear of Alaska bears attacking humans, it is mostly the result of our civilization encroaching on them and their habitat. They have no choice but to fight back. It can happen if a bear is injured or you get too close to any bear, especially a mother bear with cubs.

A lot of people do not understand that feeding bears ENCOURAGES them to attack you or any other human they see, in order to obtain more food. Especially since we are invading their lands and reducing their food supply by doing so. So if they're hungry, they're going to take what food is available.

• Keep all food stored in bear-proof food canisters. Purchase or borrow them at parks and ranger stations. Or you can store food in a locked vehicle, but not in a tent or anything flimsy. Alaskan parks now provide food lockers in many remote locations for this purpose, so check with rangers.

• Besides food, you must also safely store anything that has a strong smell to it. Bears will tear things apart to find out what the smell is, even if it's not food.

• Clean up and store your food again immediately after you're done eating. And if I were you, I'd keep a campfire burning while I was eating. That is a little bit of protection, anyway.

• NEVER try to feed any wild animal or leave anything out that could be eaten, when you are done with it. That's where our bear troubles begin. If they find something edible once, at a human camp, they will come back for more. And they might start actively hunting for human camps for that purpose.

• If you are fishing or small game hunting, don't leave any fish parts, guts, scraps, bones, hides or other parts at a campsite or anyplace a bear can identify with human contact. You can throw fish parts in a fast-moving river in most places, but don't leave them on the banks of creeks, streams or rivers.

• Take all garbage with you when you leave. And remove all traces of your camp. This is not just for the sake of keeping the environment clean--which is also quite important--but it's to keep wild animals, especially bears, from associating human contact with food supply.

For more information on Alaska bears and how to deal with them, here is an excellent booklet on BEAR SAFETY from the Audubon Society.

Here's a few of the differences. Brown bears are larger, have straighter claws and have a hump over their shoulders. The black bear has no hump, is smaller, has curved claws and a straighter face, from forehead to nose tip.

The Kodiak brown bear can grow more than 10 feet long and weigh over 1,700 pounds. That is a BIG animal, but unless you go to Kodiak Island, you won't meet one. And if you DO go to Kodiak Island, I suggest you take a guided tour to see them, for safety's sake. They show up in droves when the salmon are running in rivers. And some don't hibernate in winter like bears living further north.

The Alaskan grizzly and other brown bears are not as prevalent as they once were. In the summer, grizzlys are mostly in small groups and remote locations on the mainland of Alaska. Brown bears are abundant along the coast, and they often show up close to civilization, so don't think you won't meet one when you are hiking or camping.

Black bears are more common and can be more of a nuisance if you are camping. Since they're the smallest of bears, they have a harder time finding food. If they are hungry and you've got food, they could make a mess of your camp. But that's not going to happen to you because you are going to follow the above precautions, right?

Polar bears are the only bear that will hunt humans. Since you're probably not going to take a winter trip to the northern or western slopes of Alaska, it's unlikely you'll see one in the wilds. And I don't think you'd want to sit in an ice igloo (to protect you from winds) waiting for one to show up so you can photograph it. So if you want to see a real live polar bear, try the Alaska Zoo.

The summer we arrived in Alaska, we had two bear 'incidents'.

Bear Story #1:

My dad pitched a tent in an old gravel pit on the side of the highway, near Tok Junction. We lived there while he took a job with the Alaska Road Commission. Drinking water came from a spring coming down the mountainside a about a quarter-mile or so down the road. The highway was a narrow, two-lane gravel road at the time.

We ran out of water while dad was working, so my mom took a bucket and walked to the spring. When she came around a curve in the road, right before the spring, she stopped. A black bear was coming across the road, toward her. The bear stopped and looked at her. She took one step backwards. The bear took a step forward. This happened a few times before she turned and ran as fast as she could, back to the tent.

Even though the bear didn't follow her, when she got back she was so frightened that she was shaking. She grabbed dad's rifle and sat at the tent door with it, for about a half-hour. Later, she assumed the bear probably just wanted a drink of water, too.

Bear Story #2:

Later that summer, a kindly man allowed our family to stay at a cabin he'd built at Dot Lake. It was a small, one room cabin with a window in the back wall that faced the outhouse he'd built. He hadn't bothered to put a door on the outhouse, so you could look directly in it from the window.

A bear came up to the cabin one day and smelled the duck innards my father had thrown down the outhouse. I had just gone to the back window to get my mom a needle from her sewing cushion, sitting on its sill. I saw that bear stick his head in the seat-hole, trying his best to get at those innards! Being six years old, and impressionable, I screamed, "J...C..., a bear!!" Mom jumped up and looked, but we were safe in the cabin, so she wasn't worried.

He didn't succeed, so finally gave up and went around to the front of the cabin, where the owner had created a trash heap about 12 feet from the door. The bear dug around for quite awhile looking for food. He stuck around all afternoon so we couldn't go outside. Finally, he picked up an old beer bottle, tipped his head back and drank. Shaking his head and throwing the bottle down, he finally left. Probably didn't suite his taste!

A NOTE HERE: This is WHY, over the years, we humans have learned to be a little smarter. Back then, garbage was left everywhere and bears got used to it, so this is what started the trend of bear attacks, I'm sure.

Besides accidentally meeting them on trails or camping trips, possibly when you're not prepared for a meeting, there are other methods of being guaranteed to see a bear.

Now, don't laugh, but if you just want to get close to a BIG ALASKA BEAR, with no danger involved, stop by Anchorage International Airport. They have one in a glass cage standing on his hind legs, that looks like he's 12 feet tall—and if you stand right next to him and look up, you might not care whether you see a live one. They're mighty impressive animals! They also have one at Fairbanks

But if you REALLY want to see an Alaska bear and are willing to spend the money, there are a number of ways to do that.

1. McNeil State Game Sanctuary - Because this area was exploited for many years, with dangers to both humans and bears, visiting is now controlled by lottery. This is an untouched area where Alaska bears come to eat during salmon runs. It is located about 100 miles west of Homer, across Cook Inlet. There are no roads or other signs of civilization except the camp run by the Sanctuary, so you have to charter a plane to fly in. And you need to bring a tent and food. That's IF you win a lottery permit.

2. There are plenty of hunting guides around the state that will take people out for a nice fee. I'm sure they won't mind if you're just shooting with a camera!

Alaska Bears at Halo Bay - This area is located just 30 miles south of McNeil Sanctuary, and is also an excellent bear viewing area. There are several guides operating out of Homer that will take you to this area with a much steeper fee, of course.

Alaska Bears at Katmai National Park - Halo Bay is adjacent to it. Also renowned for it's population of brown bears, can be accessed by chartered flights or boats.

3. Kodiak Wildlife Refuge - Visit or write to the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center at 402 Center Street, Kodiak, Alaska 99615. Or call: 907-487-2626. They are open from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Tuesday-Saturday. They can give you information on your best means of viewing Kodiak brown bears.

Have fun visiting with Alaska bears, no matter how you do it! And if you are satisfied with your bear-viewing opportunities, let's take a look at the Alaskan Moose...

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