Latest news with #AlaskaDepartmentofFishandGame
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Woman injured in moose trampling at Anchorage's University Lake Park
May 21—A woman was injured Tuesday by a cow moose with a calf at Anchorage's University Lake Park, authorities said. The woman was on the popular trail around the lake when she was trampled, according to Anchorage Police Department spokesman Chris Barraza. Officers responded to a call just after 1:45 p.m. and found the woman with "trauma to her lower body," Barraza said. Anchorage Fire Department medics took her to a hospital, a spokesperson said. Police described the woman's injuries as not life-threatening. The stomping marked the second such incident involving moose with calves in Anchorage in under a week. A woman and a dog were injured by a moose Friday evening at Kincaid Park. The woman in Tuesday's incident had a dog with her, according to Cory Stantorf, an Anchorage-based wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. She was in an area where trees meet open fields near Alaska Pacific University. The dogs in both cases were reportedly unleashed, Stantorf said. Cow moose tend to be more aggressive when they're protecting calves, and the presence of dogs can escalate an encounter, he said. State and municipal officials have posted warning signs in the area of the lake, as well as at Kincaid Park. This time of year, when cow moose are calving and are protecting very young or newborn calves, is the most common time for reports of injuries from tramplings, Stantorf said. "We have a lot of newborns on the ground with a lot of defensive cows," he said. "People just need to be aware that when they're out walking, hiking, they need to be on alert for cows with newborn calves. And really, give any cow a wide berth and assume it has a calf with it." He has not had a chance to interview either of the women involved in the recent incidents. Generally, biologists try to get as much information as possible to help get safety messages to the public. This past winter was easier on moose than usual, with low-snow conditions providing more access to brush and other browse the animals feed on. But there's nothing unusual about conditions this spring that would prompt the recent spate of encounters, Stantorf said. "We have a good number of moose that call Anchorage home," he said. "It's just unfortunate that these folks were in the same place at the same time" with a moose with at least one calf.
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
An Alaska Mother's Day tradition: Mingling with ice age survivors on a farm
PALMER, Alaska -- It is one of Alaska's favorite Mother's Day traditions, getting up close and personal with animals that have survived the ice age. All moms get a daisy and free admission Sunday at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, about an hour's drive north of Anchorage. Once inside they will have the chance to view 75 members of the musk ox herd, including three young calves just getting their feet under them. Also a draw is an old bull named Trebek, named after the late 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek, a benefactor of the facility. 'Who doesn't want to celebrate Mother's Day with a musk ox mom and the most adorable calf you're ever going to find in your life?' said Mark Austin, the farm's executive director. Mother's Day is the traditional start of the summer season for the farm, which traces its roots back to 1964 and at several locations before moving in 1986 to Palmer. That move put it on Alaska's limited road system, provided easier access to grazing land than in tundra communities and it to incorporate educational opportunities at the farm facility, which is dwarfed by the the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges. 'When we opened the doors here, we started doing Mother's Day as a grand opening every year,' Austin said. He called it a natural decision, celebrating mothers with cute, newborn baby musk oxen on the grounds. So far this year, three baby musk oxen have been born and are on display, and more could be on the way. Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year, attracting more than 1,500 visitors. It is a tradition that now stretches over three generations. 'It's a huge, just kind of rite of passage for a lot of people,' Austin said. 'If we ever talked about not doing it, there'd be a riot.' Musk oxen are ice age survivors. 'They were running around with saber-toothed tigers and mastodons, and they're the ones that lived,' Austin said. The herd members all have diverse personalities, he added, and they are crafty, smart and inquisitive. Their closest relatives to animals of today would be Arctic goats. Mature musk ox bulls can stand 5 feet (about 1.5 meters) tall and weigh as much as 800 pounds (about 360 kilograms), while female cows are smaller at about 4 feet (about 1.2 meters) and up to 500 pounds (about 230 kilograms), according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's website. They are stocky, long-haired animals with a slight hump in their shoulder, a short tail and horns, the website says. The Inupiat call musk ox 'itomingmak,' which means 'the animal with skin like a beard,' for its long hair hanging nearly to the ground. The mammals once roamed across northern Europe, Asia, Greenland and North America before they began to die off. By the 1920s the last remaining ones were in Greenland and Canada. Efforts to reintroduce the musk ox to Alaska started in 1934, when 34 were delivered to Fairbanks from Greenland. Since then, the wild population has grown to about 5,000, located throughout the nation's largest state, Austin said. The nonprofit farm welcomes donations from visitors on Sunday. Some people will make a beeline for the baby musk oxen, while others will throw a $100 bill on the counter first. 'We do like to see the donation, but we truly offer this as an event to the community, as a thank you,' Austin said. 'It really gives us a chance to give something back.'
Winnipeg Free Press
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
An Alaska Mother's Day tradition: Mingling with ice age survivors on a farm
PALMER, Alaska (AP) — It is one of Alaska's favorite Mother's Day traditions, getting up close and personal with animals that have survived the ice age. All moms get a daisy and free admission Sunday at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, about an hour's drive north of Anchorage. Once inside they will have the chance to view 75 members of the musk ox herd, including three young calves just getting their feet under them. Also a draw is an old bull named Trebek, named after the late 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek, a benefactor of the facility. 'Who doesn't want to celebrate Mother's Day with a musk ox mom and the most adorable calf you're ever going to find in your life?' said Mark Austin, the farm's executive director. Mother's Day is the traditional start of the summer season for the farm, which traces its roots back to 1964 and at several locations before moving in 1986 to Palmer. That move put it on Alaska's limited road system, provided easier access to grazing land than in tundra communities and it to incorporate educational opportunities at the farm facility, which is dwarfed by the the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges. 'When we opened the doors here, we started doing Mother's Day as a grand opening every year,' Austin said. He called it a natural decision, celebrating mothers with cute, newborn baby musk oxen on the grounds. So far this year, three baby musk oxen have been born and are on display, and more could be on the way. Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year, attracting more than 1,500 visitors. It is a tradition that now stretches over three generations. 'It's a huge, just kind of rite of passage for a lot of people,' Austin said. 'If we ever talked about not doing it, there'd be a riot.' Musk oxen are ice age survivors. 'They were running around with saber-toothed tigers and mastodons, and they're the ones that lived,' Austin said. The herd members all have diverse personalities, he added, and they are crafty, smart and inquisitive. Their closest relatives to animals of today would be Arctic goats. Mature musk ox bulls can stand 5 feet (about 1.5 meters) tall and weigh as much as 800 pounds (about 360 kilograms), while female cows are smaller at about 4 feet (about 1.2 meters) and up to 500 pounds (about 230 kilograms), according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's website. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. They are stocky, long-haired animals with a slight hump in their shoulder, a short tail and horns, the website says. The Inupiat call musk ox 'itomingmak,' which means 'the animal with skin like a beard,' for its long hair hanging nearly to the ground. The mammals once roamed across northern Europe, Asia, Greenland and North America before they began to die off. By the 1920s the last remaining ones were in Greenland and Canada. Efforts to reintroduce the musk ox to Alaska started in 1934, when 34 were delivered to Fairbanks from Greenland. Since then, the wild population has grown to about 5,000, located throughout the nation's largest state, Austin said. The nonprofit farm welcomes donations from visitors on Sunday. Some people will make a beeline for the baby musk oxen, while others will throw a $100 bill on the counter first. 'We do like to see the donation, but we truly offer this as an event to the community, as a thank you,' Austin said. 'It really gives us a chance to give something back.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge says Alaska bear-killing program remains void, despite emergency authorization
A brown bear walks on the tundra in Katmai National Park and Preserve on Aug. 11, 2023. Critics of the state's bear-culling program, which is aimed at boosting Mulchatna Caribou Herd numbers, say Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials have failed to adequately analyze impacts to bear populations, including impacts to bears that roam in Katmai. (Photo by F. Jimenez/National Park Service) The Alaska Department of Fish and Game does not have the right to carry out a controversial plan to kill bears this spring, at least for now, a state judge has ruled. Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin found that the department's predator control program, aimed at boosting a caribou population that has declined dramatically since the 1990s, remains unconstitutional, despite an Alaska Board of Game emergency authorization for the bear-killing to resume. Through the program, which began in the spring of 2023 after the board first authorized it in 2022, the department has killed 175 brown bears, five black bears and 19 wolves. Rankin's order, released late Wednesday, was in response to a request by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance for a restraining order barring the department from carrying out this year's predator control. The department had planned to start culling bears this weekend. A restraining order is not needed because the program is already legally invalid, under a ruling issued by Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi on March 14, Rankin said. Neither the Department of Fish and Game's March 21 petition for an emergency nor the Board of Game's March 27 approval of the emergency changed the fact that there is an existing court ruling that the predator control program violates the constitution, Rankin said. The state has not satisfied the requirements in Guidi's order for adequate public notice and analysis of the predator control program's impact on the bear population, Rankin said. Because of that, 'the Court specifically finds that the requirements of the Order have not been met and are still binding on the State,' she said. Critics of the state's program argue that bears are not to blame for the Mulchatna Caribou Herd's decline. They point to numerous other factors, including a changing habitat in which tundra vegetation favorable to caribou has been replaced by woody plants favorable to moose. They also argue that the predator control program poses a threat to bear populations, including those that roam through Katmai National Park and Preserve. The Alaska Wildlife Alliance sued the state in 2023 to block the program, and that lawsuit resulted in Guidi's March ruling. On Thursday, the alliance counted Rankin's ruling as a victory, even though it did not result in a restraining order blocking the state's plans to start roving bears on Sunday. 'The Superior court ruled that the existing predator control program was unlawful, which means that the State poached almost 200 bears over the past few years, including dozens of cubs, from planes and helicopters,' Nicole Schmitt, the organization's executive director, said in a statement. 'Instead of remedying those legalities, the State and the Board tried to skirt the public process again. We're grateful the Court saw this process for what it was: an attempt to run-around a Court order without meaningful engagement from the public.' In their petition to the Board of Game for emergency authorization, state officials argued that they were under a time crunch to remove bears from the caribou herd's range. The bear culling has to be conducted during the spring and early summer, the time when caribou are giving birth to calves on which the bears might prey, department officials argued in their petition and at the March Board of Game meeting. But Rankin, in a hearing Tuesday, expressed skepticism about the justification for the emergency finding. She peppered Kimberly Del Frate, an assistant attorney general for the state, with questions about how the emergency action would not be seen as an end run around Guidi's ruling. 'I know it's a hard fact, but you need to just admit it: The emergency was created because you lost with Judge Guidi. You wouldn't have needed to do it if you didn't have this decision,' Rankin told Del Frate. Department of Fish and Game officials did not provide information Thursday on their plans now for predator control in the Mulchatna area. The department was still evaluating Rankin's decision, a spokesperson said. Joe Geldhof, one of the attorneys representing the organization, said he fears that state officials will carry out their predatory control program in defiance of the ruling. He and fellow attorney Joel Bennett, a former Board of Game member, see parallels with the Trump administration's defiance of court rulings. To try to bolster the case against the bear-killing program – and potentially give Rankin legal grounds to issue a restraining order against the Department of Fish and Game — Geldhof and Bennett on Wednesday filed an amended complaint that adds the Board of Game's emergency authorization to the list of state actions that they want to overturn. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
The Independent
26-03-2025
- General
- The Independent
Pilot, children survive 12 hours on wing of submerged plane after crashing into icy lake
A Good Samaritan's swift action led to the rescue of a pilot and two children who survived nearly 12 hours stranded on the wing of their downed plane in a frigid Alaskan lake. The small aircraft, a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, crashed into Tustumena Lake on Sunday during a sightseeing trip. Terry Godes, after spotting a Facebook plea for help with the search, took to the skies Monday morning. Flying near the glacier-fed lake, he noticed what initially appeared to be wreckage. "It kind of broke my heart to see that," Godes said. However, as he descended for a closer look, a glimmer of hope emerged. "I could see that there's three people on top of the wing," he said. He then realized the trio were not only alive but also responsive, waving to him as he approached. Godes, after a brief prayer of thanks, radioed his discovery to other pilots involved in the search effort. Dale Eicher, another pilot in the area, picked up Godes's call and, recognizing his likely better cell service, relayed the information and coordinates to authorities. The Alaska National Guard swiftly responded, rescuing the pilot and his two children from their precarious perch on the submerged plane's wing. 'I wasn't sure if we would find them, especially because there was a cloud layer over quite a bit of the mountains so they could have very easily been in those clouds that we couldn't get to,' Eicher said. But he said that finding the family within an hour of starting the search and finding them alive "was very good news." The plane had taken off from Soldotna on Sunday for a sightseeing flight to Skilak Lake on the Kenai Peninsula. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The three survivors were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, Alaska State Troopers said. 'They spent a long, cold, dark, wet night out on top of a wing of an airplane that they weren't planning on," Godes said. He said there were many miracles at play, from the plane not sinking, to the survivors being able to stay on the wing, to the three surviving the night in temperatures dipping into the 20s (subzero Celsius). 'It's a cold dark place out there at night,' he said. The plane was mostly submerged in the lake with only the wing and the top of the rudder exposed above the ice and water, Godes said. The 60,000-acre (24,200-hectare) Tustumena Lake is situated about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage and has been described by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as 'notorious for its sudden, dangerous winds.' Conditions around the lake — with nearby mountains, a glacier and gusty winds — can cause havoc for both boats and planes. The body of water is the largest freshwater lake on the Kenai Peninsula . 'Even under what would be considered a benign or relatively weak pressure gradient, the terrain helps turn the winds around, and occasionally they get a little squirrelly," said Michael Kutz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Anchorage. Alaska is a state with few roads, leaving many communities to rely on small airplanes as the preferred mode of transportation. In February, in western Alaska, 10 people died when a small commuter plane that was overweight by half a ton crashed into sea ice in the Norton Sound, near Nome on the state's western coast. Five years ago, a deadly midair collision near the Soldotna airport claimed the lives of seven people, including an Alaska state lawmaker.
