No injuries after humans ‘pawed’ by bears inside Alaska park
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.