A black bear entered a camper near Seward on Sunday morning, scratched a sleeping man’s leg and then tried to bite it, according to Alaska State Troopers.
The bear had entered the man’s camper through an open door, said the troopers’ online report. The camper was in a small parking lot near Fourth of July Beach, in the Spring Creek area.
The man told troopers he scared the bear out of his camper, and it wandered back into the woods.
The man had minor injuries, troopers said.
Troopers got a report of the bear intruder around 9:15 a.m. Sunday, July 4 — a busy holiday weekend for the campgrounds around Seward.
Later that day, wildlife troopers got more bear reports from the same area.
They were called about a black bear “raiding camps, bluff charging campers, and showing no fear of people,” according to troopers’ online report.
Troopers responded to the beach and watched the bear walking toward campers.
They said the bear was a public safety risk, and they killed it. Its hide and skull will be turned in to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said troopers.
Earlier this summer near Seward, wildlife officials killed two aggressive black bears: One in May at Tonsina Creek and another in June near Exit Glacier.
