The Alaska Department of Fish and Game euthanized two black bears in downtown Juneau on Wednesday evening after they displayed aggressive behavior around garbage cans.
Wildlife management biologist Carl Koch said he initially responded to reports of a yearling that was entering shops, including a jewelry store on South Franklin Street.
“As we were looking for the little bear, we encountered two other bears that were uncooperative, you know, somewhat aggressive,” Koch said. “We were dealing with lots of tourists getting close to them, and so we did end up removing two bears for safety reasons.”
Those bears were more mature males. According to Koch, they were shot with tranquilizer darts and later put down. The yearling is still at large.
Bear sightings are common in the neighborhood.
“There’s a great habitat just above Franklin Street surrounding a bunch of houses, stairwells, that will lead down to garbage cans,” Koch said. “There were a lot of full cans that the bears could get after.”
Koch said he found many cans that were easy to get into on Wednesday, with extra garbage that was placed on top of them, out in the open.
Unsecured trash draws hungry bears. If a bear is easily shooed away, it doesn’t pose a threat. But when bears get used to trash as an easy food source, they get used to people, too, which makes them more bold and confrontational.
Bear sightings in the busy downtown tourist areas can draw large crowds. Curious onlookers plus confrontational bears means big concerns for public safety.
“You tell people to back off and they say, I paid all this money, I’m gonna get my picture,” Koch said.
Koch says the Juneau Police Department has been responding to more bear-related calls this summer than usual, and wildlife biologists are not sure why they’re especially active this year.
Fortunately, no other bears have been euthanized in the area.
Still, Koch says the best way to avoid that outcome in the future is to do a better job of securing and cleaning up trash. According to city law, residents and business owners can be subject to fines if their garbage attracts bears