|
Armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and non-lethal firecracker
slugs, officer Ruby Kaleak rushed with a partner to a home where
a petrified resident reported a polar bear break-in on Friday,
the newspaper said on Monday.
While scanning the property, Kaleak suddenly saw the bear pop
up, filling the entryway door-frame of Betty Brower's home in
Kaktovik, a 300-resident community in the North Slope Borough.
The 81-year-old was home alone and hiding under a large window
from where she managed to radio for help.
"I was shocked. It was humongous ... Just the neck and head was
half the size of me, and I'm 5 (feet) 2 (inches) (1.57 cm),"
Kaleak told the paper after the encounter. "My mind was going in
circles at the time."
She and her fellow wildlife manager were able to chase the bear
away from the house and no one was injured, according to the
report.
Neither Kaleak nor state wildlife or village officials could
immediately be reached for comment.
Bears in the area are drawn to the village for hunters' leftover
whale parts and often smell food in arctic entryway porches used
by some residents to store food.
Kaleak told the newspaper she has never had to fire a deadly
slug at bears advancing on people. The bears seem unafraid of
vehicles but when she jumps out of her truck they scurry off.
"I tell them: Yep, you better run!'" Kaleak said, according to
the newspaper.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
