A “massive” black bear that had been causing problems in the Switzer Village mobile home park area for several years was euthanized Tuesday morning by Alaska Fish and Game officials after it became trapped in the arctic entry area of a trailer.
Resident Leoni Johnson said she was still shaking more than 24 hours later.
Johnson said her husband had just left for work and she was in the back of their home where her two dogs, Buttons and Rocky, “started going nuts” at about 7:15 a.m.
“I heard this ‘bang bang,’” she said. “The dogs were going crazy. Then I heard it again and I yelled, ‘Who is it?’”
Johnson said she went to the front and opened the door to the arctic entry, only to come face-to-face with the bear, which had gotten trapped inside the space.
“I was so scared,” she said.
Johnson slammed the door closed, locked it and ran to the back of the house before calling 911. She said she tried to get out the side door, but it was jammed shut. She eventually was able to force it open and get out that way.
“I turned my ankle and I smashed my wrist, and I can’t even remember doing it,” she said, displaying a deep bruise. “I didn’t even notice until a few hours later that I was hurt.”
Johnson said she does not keep her trash in the arctic entry but she did have some recycling in a bag. There was food in a freezer in the space, including a turkey, but the bear didn’t eat any of it, she said.
Johnson was quick to give her pint-size protectors a lot of credit, saying, “I think these two little guys kept him out of the house.”
Alaska Fish and Game responded and eventually dispatched the bear.
Stephanie Sell, the Fish and Game area biologist for wildlife, said Wednesday the decision was made to euthanize that particular bear because it was known to have a history of destructive behavior.
“It was a very, very large male,” she said, adding that it weighed in at 470 pounds — the biggest bear she has ever handled.
Sell said she has been after that particular bear for several years because it had caused a lot of property damage and had been occasionally aggressive in its behavior. The bear had been a focus of many complaints in the area, most recently on Saturday, she said.
In the last few years, Sell said, she had put out traps but had caught five other bears instead.
When she got to Johnson’s trailer, Sell realized it was the elusive problem bear she had been chasing and that she couldn’t justify letting him stay in the area.
“This was a massive bear,” she said, adding that typically, male black bears get up to 250 to 300 pounds. “He could cause some serious damage. He was tearing the structure apart trying to get out. … After I darted it, he busted right through the wall.”
Sell said it was not that unusual to find bears in the area, noting that a fair number of the mobile home park residents tend to keep their trash cans in their arctic entries, which often have flimsy doors.
“We work hard to make people aware that the bears are in the area because of the attractants,” Sell said, citing garbage and chickens in particular.
“I think people become complacent — they need to be proactive instead of reactive,” she added, recommending that Juneau residents invest in bear-resistant garbage cans and electric fencing for their chickens.
Sell said the bear that was euthanized had been causing issues in the Lemon Creek area from the dump to the mobile home park.
Just because it’s gone, however, residents shouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief.
“People can expect an influx of smaller bears coming into the area,” Sell said, explaining that they will move in to fill the newly created vacancy.
• Contact reporter Liz Kellar at 523-2246 or liz.kellar@juneauempire.com.
Leoni Johnson shows where the bear trapped in her arctic entry Tuesday morning crashed through the siding after being shot with a dart. (Liz Kellar | Juneau Empire)
Leoni Johnson shows off a board that was part of the siding in her arctic entry, that was damaged by a bear Tuesday morning. (Liz Kellar | Juneau Empire)
