On a recent sunny evening at Kincaid Park, a group of Anchorage residents gathered around a charging bear \u2014 printed out and taped to a foam posterboard.<\/p>\n
Marian Snively, a wildlife education specialist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, gave instruction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsabel, you\u2019re going around the corner, and there\u2019s a bear,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrab my deterrent,\u201d responded Isabel Grant with Defenders of Wildlife as she raised her bear spray in front of her. \u201cStop. Assess.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this scenario, the bear then got even closer.<\/p>\n
Grant leveled her canister at the foam animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI point and I spray,\u201d she said, deploying the deterrent and releasing a cloud of capsaicin.<\/p>\n
One by one, each participant stepped up to take their turn spraying the foam bear. The goal of this free wildlife safety demonstration, organized by Grant and Snively, was to let residents actually practice using bear spray \u2014 so that if they run into a bear, it\u2019s not their first time using it. Using bear spray is an important skill to practice, Snively said, especially in a city where it\u2019s not uncommon to run into the animals, whether in the backcountry, or even in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when you do see a bear, you\u2019re going to be like, \u2018Oh my God, that\u2019s a bear,\u2019\u201d Grant said. \u201cBut having that information in the back of your head, always reviewing what you should do, and if you see a bear when you go out, you\u2019ll be a lot more prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James Oh<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Alaska Public Media <\/p>\n
Marian Snively with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Isabel Grant with Defenders of Wildlife share safety tips with about a dozen participants at Kincaid Chalet on July 3, 2025.<\/p>\n
Throughout the evening, each person stood in front of the foam bear as Snively coached them through grabbing their canister, removing the safety, aiming and spraying.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you just press down, but keep your finger out of the nozzle,\u201d she said, nodding as the participant deployed their bear spray. \u201cThere you go. Okay, who’s next?\u201d<\/p>\n
Every year, Fish and Game responds to bear reports in Anchorage. So far this year, area biologist Cory Stantorf said the number of human-bear interactions has been right around average. Midsummer, these numbers typically drop, when bears can rely on salmon and berries for food. But in late summer and early fall, there may be a small increase again.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the salmon and Devil\u2019s Club berries are done, we see kind of an uptick there,\u201d Stantorf said.<\/p>\n
During the summer months, Grant said, it\u2019s important to remember that all of Alaska is bear country. Being prepared with the right gear and knowing how to use it is key.<\/p>\n
There are also some common misconceptions when it comes to bear encounters, Snively said. One: Don\u2019t run from a bear. And two: Don\u2019t use bear spray like you use bug spray.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people think that bear spray, they don’t realize it’s actually also an attractant,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so if you want to spray around your tent, thinking that’s going to keep a bear away, that could actually attract it, because it’s got a strong sense of smell.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James Oh<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Alaska Public Media <\/p>\n
Participants aim at a charging bear printed out and taped to a foam posterboard at a safety demonstration at Kincaid Chalet on July 3, 2025. <\/p>\n
At Kincaid, participants got multiple chances to practice spraying the foam bear before a well-timed gust of wind blew it over.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, you got it!\u201d one person called out as others laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s running away!\u201d<\/p>\n
One participant, Ruthann Dodson of Anchorage, said she had never used bear spray before the demonstration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very positive and informative demonstration and meeting tonight with our gals,\u201d Dodson said. \u201cI found it was easier to basically unlock the safety cap than what you think, and to step in and spray so that hopefully it’ll be a good enough shot to send them on their way.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she walked away from the presentation feeling much more prepared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a recent sunny evening at Kincaid Park, a group of Anchorage residents gathered around a charging bear…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-54048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114828839802411759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}