Fish and Game captures brown bear cub that’s been on the lam for a month

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - On Thursday afternoon, biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game finally captured a brown bear cub that had eluded them for a month. They thanked the public for helping them keep track of its location.

“I’ve had numerous members of the public reaching out on a weekly basis, ‘oh hey, how’s the bear cub, any updates?’” Biologist Nick Docken said. “It’s definitely a feel-good, happy ending to this story that started out in a negative light.”

The cub has been wandering the Anchorage bowl ever since Fish and Game killed its mother and a sibling for repeatedly getting into trash in a Lake Otis neighborhood. A third cub was captured immediately and has been living at the Alaska zoo ever since.

Docken said the cub kept getting into trash before its capture and looked quite healthy, though it may not have survived the winter on its own, since brown bear cubs normally stay with their mothers for two years.

“Without its mom it would have struggled with temperatures dropping,” he said.

On Thursday afternoon, the cub was still shaking off the anesthesia that helped biologists safely capture it. Keeper Sarah Smith said it would likely be reunited with its sibling soon.

“Once he goes out into the yard, he’ll be able to see and smell his sibling, they’ll most likely recognize each other right away,” Smith said. “As long as we see all positive interactions, probably the next day we’ll just let them in together.”

Smith said the zoo had a new home lined up for the first cub, but now it’s likely the pair will go together.

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