The Ketchikan Police Department shot and killed a bear early Thursday morning on historic Creek Street in the Southeast Alaska community’s downtown area.
According to police Lt. Andy Berntson, a Creek Street resident was attempting to leave home around 4 a.m. Thursday and was unable to scare a young black bear away from the door.
“Our officer showed up and tried to scare the bear away. He ended up utilizing a beanbag round, hit the bear, and caused the bear to leave,” Berntson said. “Unfortunately, what our officer didn’t see at the time was the sow.”
Berntson said the officer shot the black bear with a less-lethal beanbag round, a piece of fabric filled with lead shot. After it ran away though, Berntson said a larger female bear showed up.
“At that point, mama bear did what mama bears do, and became aggressive towards our officer. At that point, our officer deployed lethal rounds, and then, unfortunately, had to kill the mom,” Berntson said.
A resident captured a video of the incident and posted it to social media, where it drew controversy and upset many residents. The video begins after the bear was shot with a lethal round from the officer’s 12-gauge shotgun. The bear is still alive though and making sounds before the officer fires a second shotgun blast, killing her. The cub is seen hovering nearby and pacing back and forth.
Berntson said the cub went off on its own afterwards and its whereabouts are unknown. Berntson said he understands why people were disturbed by the incident.
“It’s unfortunate. We work with Fish and Game to try to prevent as many of these as possible” Berntson said. “It’s just the reality of people living with bears. Like I said, we try to avoid it. It’s not our preferred method. Every situation is a little bit different. This one was not ideal. Our officer got put in a bad spot and this was the result.”
Creek Street is a main thoroughfare for tourism in Ketchikan. It also runs along Ketchikan Creek, a spawning salmon stream, and often attracts animal activity in the summer months.
Berntson said that there has been an uptick in “problem bear activity” throughout downtown. According to the National Park Service, bear activity in Alaska usually increases in early fall as they put on weight for hibernation in the winter months.
