Life in Alaska

Today was a beautiful day in Alaska. When I got home from work my wife and I took the dogs for a walk. When we stepped out the side door that we always use in/out of the house, I looked down and found signs that we'd had a visitor. These tracks were about five feet outside the door. My wife said the dogs were barking in an unusually aggravated manner sometime mid-morning.

Here's another that suggest this was a fair sized bear, alone so likely a boar.

Yup, tis hyperfagia season in bear country. The local bear biologist sezz the bears are in great shape for their winter nap, but are now frantically looking for one last feed before denning. He said they are "looking for ice cream" for desert in their frantic feeding and incursions into towns. Right now we have as many as a dozen brown bears coming into town, tipping roller carts full of garbage and breaking into chicken coops. The good news is that "your" bear kept on moving, a sure sign you don't have anything attractive outdoors that would result in problems. Hopefully your neighbors are as careful.

Great shots to show the relative size of the tracks.

Presumably the same bear tried to break into someone's house last night and they shot but only wounded it. So now our neighborhood is on lock down with a wounded bear on the loose. The Troopers are patroling the neighborhood and up into the adjoining park looking for it.