Only a day after her companion Taquoka was shipped to a bear reserve in Sweden, Shaguyik, the escaped grizzly cub, was found shot to death near Portage. Shaguyik, or Shaggy, was one of two orphaned Kodiak grizzly cubs raised at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage.
Both were destined for Sweden, but in April, Shaguyik managed to get over a fence and ran away from the center. A search followed, but the bear was not located.
Until today, when Center spokesman Ethan Tyler reported that the bear had been found, shot.
“So far as I know, she was killed in defense of life and property.”
The bear’s identity was verified by a microchip scan. Tyler says the news came last night, hours after Center staff put Taquoka into his crate, bound for Sweden
“This is really ironic. And you know, it’s kind of a tough pill to swallow, because yesterday, you know, we were loading Taquoka up in his crate, and I stood there and watched a group of AWCC staff members in tears over bidding farewell to a bear that we’ve had on property for a little over a year and a half, to get news that Shaguyak died is pretty tough.”
Alaska State Troopers and Fish and Game officials are looking into the incident.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
