The Sitka Police Department typically receives a handful of calls each night from residents reporting bears wandering the streets or dipping into trash cans.
This week there have been a number of sightings in daytime, even one on National Park property.
Ryan Carpenter, who the acting Chief of Interpretation at Sitka National Historical Park, said a bear was in the park early Monday.
“We had a visitor that sighted a bear along Saw Mill Creek, and that was probably about 7:30-7:45 in the morning,” Carpenter said. “That individual notified park staff and the local police department.”
Carpenter said the park’s trails were closed for about an hour while park staff and the police responded.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game also tried to locate the bear.
Carpenter explained the bear was then reportedly sighted again just outside park property, but authorities were unable to locate it.
He says a bear sighting in the area isn’t all that rare, especially in the late summer and early fall.
“This time of year, when there are salmon running in the streams, there are bears that come through the park, but it seems like by the time we get those reports, the bears have already left, so one of the things we will do is we’ll put cautionary signs up that there has been bear activity in the park so this time of year that’s not an unusual occurrence.”
The park was reopened to visitors later Monday morning. A warning sign remains posted at the entrance of the park and Carpenter urges visitors to remain bear aware at all hours of the day.
