When you visit Alaska, one of the things high on your list of things to see is bears. In the Sitka area, bears live in close proximity to humans. Usually, the interaction between the two is minimal. During Covid, human interaction decreased to nil. So much so that when Covid restrictions were lifted, the bears had reclaimed their full territory and clashes began. Last year, there were more bears killed by automobiles than ever before and many bears had to be put down because they were being a nuisance. Even so, they are important to the culture and traditions of the Alaskan people.
In Sitka, there are no black bears. Only brown bears are indigenous. Grizzlies which are a subspecies of brown bears are not found here but rather are inland. Each year, a number of bear cubs or injured bears find themselves in need of help. For years, the only answer was to euthanize them as without their mothers, they would starve to death. Now these helpless animals have a sanctuary, Fortress of the Bears, where they can go to receive care and live out their lives. As the center gets more bears than they can handle, they are placed in zoos who are seeking to add or replace their populations. The ultimate goal is for them to receive all the permits etc. to allow them to have a release program. The cubs especially should be able to be release back into the wild and live a normal bear life.
For now however, they live in a wonderful habitat and are cared for by professionals. The young cub are placed with one professional who becomes a surrogate mother. It takes a bit of time for the frightened cub to imprint on their new mom, but once it happens the bond is strong. That person will feed and train the cubs until they become juveniles or get too big to handle safely. Then they are placed into one of the enclosures with other bears. The handler continues to have contact with the cub, but less and less over time. They train the bears to do simple things like stand up, hold up a paw or open the mouth. Why? This allows the handlers to inspect the paws and other body parts for disease or injury without having to handle the bear.
Our visit there was amazing and the bears, majestic. They had a section dedicated to three black bears that were brought here from outside the area. Black bears love to climb trees and hills as well as swim, so their area was created to give them that environment. Brown bears love to swim so their space has a large swimming pond. They place live Salmon in the waters so the bears can hunt and catch their food. Of course, they are given other food as well. These other foods often are laced with vitamins and other supplements to ensure they remain healthy. It was truly amazing to see the beautiful creatures.
At the end of our bear visit, we were finally taken to the Ocean Victory. There was security to go through, and passport checks and other check-in necessities to complete and finally we were on board. We were treated to hot soup and other snacks including punch with or without champagne. We had just enough time to unpack and get somewhat organized before the required safety drill. We donned our rain gear and grabbed our life jackets and headed up to the appointed gathering place. I had to laugh at how many of our “old farts” had not listened and followed instructions. Some had nothing, some only had life jackets and one lady only had on socks but no shoes! We had to go outside in the pouring rain to stand by our life boats and wait till the all clear was sounded. Mass confusion.
Back inside, we got warm and dry before heading up for an informational talk about what the next days would have in store for us. At the end of the talk, we saw our first whales in the distance. Yippee, whales! Then at our first dinner we were treated to a beautiful rainbow just as the sun was setting. Finally we are back in our room, tired but oh so ready to greet the day tomorrow. I wonder what other adventures we will enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment