Bears and Raptors, oh, my

Sitka

July 15,, 2019

Four years ago, moments after we arrived in Sitka,  I stepped on a rock, fell and broke my leg. I did manage to drag myself to the Fortress of the Bear but that was it. I spent that port day in the medical center on board.

This time I’m scanning the ground for any possible menaces to my navigation. Instead of anchoring off the city, we’re at a dock in a deep water harbor about five miles north. The city has provided a fleet of shuttle buses to ferry us back and forth to downtown, metro Sitka. Sitka is on an island, the fourth largest city in Alaska with 9,000 people. It is connected to the world by boat or air. It has 14 miles of paved roads that wind through the endless forests. The people share this lovely spot with brown bears, bald eagles and salmon.

For ten bucks we took another local shuttle driven by John (30 ish, born and raised in Sitka) first to the Fortress of the Bear, then to the Alaska Raptor Center, both a few miles out of town. The Fortress is a non-profit sanctuary for orphaned brown bears, Two enormous round water filtrating tanks have been converted to habitats, complete with lakes, hills, trees and numerous “toys” to keep the bears busy and not depressed. It is illegal to return bears to the wild, so these guys are permanent residents. 

The compound was closed over the winter for a big building project. It’s not yet finished but will provide better facilities for the staff and visitors. The bears are observed from walkways next to the top of the enclosures (at least 25-30 feet above the bears). Several of the staff are on hand to answer questions, toss the odd treat to the bears (pear, mango, branches of salmon berry bushes) while constantly observing and noting their behavior. The bears do not have a regular feeding schedule (nasty smelling salmon heads and parts from a nearby cannery) to prevent domestication. The lakes in the enclosures are stocked with live salmon from time to time so they can hunt dinner. Treats are tucked here and there so they maintain their foraging skills. Because they will never go back in the wild, there is human interaction. Sadly, Big Balloo, the full-grown Kodiak bear that was quite the entertainer, died a couple of years ago from the same type of degenerate spinal problems than can afflict large breed dogs. One of the staff told me they were all devastated with his passing. She said the only comforting thought was that had he remained in the wild he probably would have been shot years ago.

At the Alaska Raptor Center, the central mission is to rehabilitate injured birds and return them to the wild. These creatures have no human contact. We could observe a dozen birds through one way glass that were in the enormous flight training area. The roof and side are slatted so natural weather (sun, rain, wind, snow) can come in. They eat their natural diet of small critters, but dead not alive. They aren’t well enough to hunt live prey. One handler told us that eagles are not “prideful eaters.” They’ll go after road kill as well as dive down for fish or small mammals. Many of them are hit by cars while they’re picking at road kill. When a bird is judged healthy enough to survive outside, it is released. They’ve been doing this for 30+ years so hundreds of raptors have been saved. The birds that are too injured become residents at the center and teaching tools for the public. It’s located in a lush forest. We were all mesmerized.

I told driver John that some salmon berry branches were tossed into the bear enclosures and two of them came lumbering over, grabbed the branches and headed for the lake where they floated on their backs like otters, chewing on the berries and leaves. John told me that ripe salmon berries are quite tasty out of hand or in jams and jellies. His aunt makes wine from them that she breaks out on New Year’s Day. The berries growing wild right be the ARC parking lot weren’t ripe enough to eat. John said they are very sour. I took him at his word.

Lunch in town—grilled halibut sandwich for me, reindeer (not the ones who work on Christmas Eve) Reuben for Jim. We poked around the shops a bit. Sitka is much less touristy than Ketchikan although zoning is a bit lax. There would be a lovely, large home and next door, something very ramshackle and mossy.

Met my first snippy Aussie today. I thought they were all fun and friendly until I talked to this one on the shuttle. When she found out we were from Atlanta (much easier to identity than Kennesaw) she said they were going to visit friends there next year. 

Susan: When will you be there?

Snippy: April.

Susan: A good choice, certainly better than July or August which are very hot and humid.

Snippy, dismissively and huffily: We live in the tropics so it wouldn’t bother us in the slightest.

So, I want you all to mark on your calendars for next April in Atlanta:  pray for heat and a deluge of rain that batters the flowers from the azaleas. And the usual huge lines of people going through Immigration at the Atlanta airport. And maybe locusts. Miss Snippy needs a karmic bitch slap.