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A brown bear walks near a viewing area in Katmai National Park and Preserve in 2013. Alaska park officials say two incidents happened recently where bears actually reached out and touched humans, something that hasn’t happened for two decades.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska >> Alaska park officials say two incidents happened recently where bears actually reached out and touched humans, something that hasn’t happened for two decades.
KTUU-TV reports Katmai National Park & Preserve said last week that a bear pawed a visitor’s pant leg after approaching the visitor in a curious manner at Brooks Camp. A second bear that was being chased by another bear pawed an employee of Katmailand’s Brooks Lodge.
The National Park Service said in a news release that neither case led to injury to the people involved.
Officials say both cases involved young bears known as “subadults,” a high number of which are now concentrated around Brooks Camp. The National Park Service says the last time the numbers were this high was in the mid-2000s.
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