AK Teacher killed by wolves in Alaska

[Siskiyou]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – A schoolteacher found dead this week near a remote Alaska village was probably killed by wolves, Alaska State Troopers said on Thursday.

The fatal attack could be the first on U.S. soil in more than 50 years. Attacks by wild wolves, rather than wolves kept as pets, are extremely rare, numbering no more than a handful a decade, mostly in Canada and Russia.

Candice Berner, a 32-year-old teacher and avid jogger who traveled to several rural schools in Alaska, was found dead on Monday along a road near Chignik Lake, a Native Alutiiq village about 475 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Snowmobilers found her severely mauled body in a pool of blood and multiple wolf tracks in the snow, according to officials. The State Medical Examiner said the cause of death was "multiple injuries due to animal mauling."

Chignik Lake locals had expressed fears about wolf sightings in the area, state troopers said. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game plans a special meeting to hear their concerns.

State troopers said there were no records of deadly wolf maulings in Alaska. Bruce Woods, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said fatal attacks are extremely rare worldwide.



.

[pastorp]

The reason their are not many fatal attacks is because most rural alaskans are armed. This teacher was fresh from penselvania I believe, and not used to the alaska bush. Had she been armed she no doubt would be alive today. Wolves & bears will kill you if they can, maybe not everyone but enough will to convince most alaskans to carry a gun.   

Wolves are starting to be a problem in the midwest and northwest states where they have been released into the wild again and in most areas protected. I believe it's just a mater of time until attacks on jogers start happening just like with the cougars.  The Walt Disney mindset will get you killed up here.

Regards,

[blind ear]

Northern Europe, Russia and India all have folk tales of wolves takeing children and wolves at the door.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm ? eddie

[Oldshooter]

The Walt Disney mindset will get you killed up here.

Excellent point!

[bulletstuffer]

Predators will be predators whether they be four legged or two legged.  This will never change.

Bulletstuffer

[magooch]

A prudent female should never be jogging alone no matter where she is.

[Sourdough]

Funny how attacks and maulings get lost from the records. 

June 2006 or 2007 (unable to remember exact date off the top of my head) woman was attacked and bitten on the buttocks by a wolf as she walked from her car to the outhouse at the Arctic Circle Rest area pull-off.  She managed to get into the building and close the door.  Once inside she had to wait several hours till more vehicle traffic pulled into the rest area.  As the incoming people came into the parking lot they saw a Lactating female wolf, standing at the door to the toilet.  As they pulled up the wolf ran off.

The following day a bicyclist riding south on the Dalton highway, just a few miles north of the same rest area was being chased by a wolf.  The wolf was trying to get hold of the rider, when a trucker driving down the highway saw what was happening.  The trucker swerved and hit the wolf killing it.  This was a male and not the same wolf that had attacked the woman the previous day.

The following winter a cross country skiier, skiing back from Nenana to Fairbanks on the Tanana River disappeared.  A few days later searchers found a patch of blood on the river and followed a blood trail into the brush.  As they entered the brush they started finding clothing, backpack, personal items, then bones and bits of hair.  He had been eaten by wolves.  Cause of death "unconfirmed", because no one saw the wolves kill him.

[Clodhopper]

A prudent female should never be jogging alone no matter where she is.

+1 on that statement!  "Female jogger killed by wolves in AK or female jogger killed by sexual predator in San Diego CA" both have their similarities!  The independent mood that many young females have nowadays can get them into trouble.  If they are going to be independent then they need to finish the preparation by learning to defend themselves with their weapon of choice and having that weapon with them when it will be needed.  My great grandmother, a petite widow woman who raised a family by herself farming, never went anywhere without a weapon in her apron pocket (usually a pocket pistol).  Stated that "you never know when you might need to shoot a snake".  I live in a small California desert town and, while we have no wolves, we have 50+ "registered" sex offenders in the town.  No telling how many unregistered!

[Sourdough]

Oh yea, had a few people complain when I gave Sky a pistol when he was 12.  When ever he goes out into the brush riding his snow machine with buddies, he is armed.  Always has been, always will be.  Most of his buddies go that way as well.  I did not worry about those kids, I taught them gun safety, and saw to it they shot enough not to have to worry about them playing around with their pistols.


News Flash:  Just announced on the radio, Fish and Game is sending crews out to hunt down and kill the pack that attacked her.

[BBF]

Wondering if she was a PETA member.

While I'm in the Wondering mode, nobody in her neighbor or friends warned her about jogging alone and unarmed there?

[SHOOTALL]

Some just think it won't happen to them !

[SHOOTALL]

Grave yards are full of people that think that.

[TribReady]

After reading stories over the years from Sourdough, the fact that this occurred in AK isn't a real shock.

I agree with the posters that stories like this will more than likely increase, especially in the lower 48 where state agencies/DNR's are doing their best to protect the sacred wolf

[bulletstuffer]

Oh yea, had a few people complain when I gave Sky a pistol when he was 12.  When ever he goes out into the brush riding his snow machine with buddies, he is armed.  Always has been, always will be.  Most of his buddies go that way as well.  I did not worry about those kids, I taught them gun safety, and saw to it they shot enough not to have to worry about them playing around with their pistols.


News Flash:  Just announced on the radio, Fish and Game is sending crews out to hunt down and kill the pack that attacked her.

RE News flash...send the guys from Wisconsin up there as they are hunting down wolves that are thinking about attacking people before it happens

[Dand]

Sourdough, you are RIGHT. I did forget about those incidents you describe. Especially the skier.

For those wondering, I don't know how long the teacher had been in Alaska. At least she'd been here for this school year. I understand she was really well liked so maybe she'd been here longer. I'll have to ask my friends what they know.

The day the wolves got her was her first afternoon in Chignik. She had been warned not to jog in that area and had been encouraged to run inside in the gym.

I think school gets out at 3, she might have spent a little time getting ready so she wasn't out long when this happened. We have daylight until 7:30 but the mountains are high and close in Chignik and there may have been long shadows or if it was cloudy it could have been dusky. Must have been a pretty nice day or the guys who found her would not have been out clamming.

Dang, I do a lot of stuff alone but I'm usually armed. With her jogging with earphones she might not have heard a thing until too late.  She might have mistaken the wolves for dogs until too late too. Sad deal for her.

I'm a little amazed at her parents' reactions.

[Oldshooter]

If she was "jogging" she was simulating a wolfs prey wouldn't you say? She was doing exactly what she shouldn't have been doing, besides being alone and unarmed! Its really Sad.

I still like the Walt Disney mindset post!

Interesting post Sourdough !

[torpedoman]

humans are not the top of the food chain , unarmed you are a prey item for many species. Why do you think your granddaddy killed off the grizz, wolf, and big cats?

[SHOOTALL]

grand paw didn't give much space to liberals either back in the day .

[Sourdough]

At least this story has shut the Animal Rights Activist up.  They were raising a fuss about the actions of the game board till this story broke.  They have been quite since.

[Dand]

I was concerned the media was going to bury this issue asap. But pleased that this column showed up. Turns out this teacher was  pretty new to Alaska but eager to learn the local ways. AND respectful of the local ways and animals. Sounds like she jumped in with both feet, berry picking, fishing, trapping - what a sad loss - looks like she was a real Alaskan that finally got here but called away much too soon.

Read some of the loopy comments from others - proves Anchorage is less and less a part of real Alaska.

Before rural teacher's death, a wild, vivid blog
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/150677
Posted by adn_jomalley
Posted: March 13, 2010 - 10:49 pm
Comments (68) |   Recommend (38)

Above the Alaska Peninsula last August, a 30-something teacher from Pennsylvania snapped a photo out the window of a plane. The frame captured the underside of the wing, a distant snowy mountain and a muddy creek snaking through a green valley far below. A few days later, Candice Berner posted her snapshot in the first entry of a blog about teaching in rural Alaska. She titled the post, "The Journey begins ..."

For the next five months, Berner, who was killed Monday in what Alaska State Troopers say was a rare wolf attack, kept a detailed travelogue of her time as a traveling teacher based out of the coastal village of Perryville. She averaged two or three posts a month.

Berner's blog introduced me to a woman who is committed, curious, observant and cautious about the Alaska outdoors. Reading it makes her death, a random mauling while running on a remote road a mile outside the village of Chignik Lake, seem all the more strange and sad.

The blog begins in Anchorage, packing with a group of rural teachers. She flies west from the city, catching smaller and smaller planes. Below her, rivers thread through the land. Then her window fills with ocean spotted with islands. Finally, Perryville.

Her early entries from the village show craggy rocks and sunny, black-sand beaches. Her first adventure is a fishing trip, a five-mile hike from the village. She posts a picture of a wide bear track pressed into the soft sand. She says she takes bear spray on her morning runs.

"It's so important to be alert and aware of your surroundings, because we're not in PA anymore and everything is bigger and more fierce in Alaska," she writes.

School starts. She posts a picture of herself on a four-wheeler behind a student on a day trip to Humpback Bay. ----  use the link to read more.

AND ANOTHER TV STORY:

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=12133641
Heavy snow continues to hinder Chignik Lake wolf hunt.

by Jackie Bartz
Saturday, March 13, 2010

CHIGNIK LAKE, Alaska -- Bad weather continued Saturday in the village of Chignik Lake, further delaying state plans to kill a wolf pack blamed for the death of a local teacher.

Chignik Lake residents woke up to even more snow on the ground and stronger winds than Friday. Biologists say that even if they are able to bring in a helicopter as planned, they won't hunt the wolves because of the low visibility.

They say it would be nearly impossible to track them, and they wouldn't be able to shoot them from the air.

In the meantime, a village resident reports that he believes the wolf pack that killed 32-year-old Candice Berner was in his yard in town Saturday morning. He says he woke up around 6 a.m. to dogs barking, and an hour later he walked outside and saw wolf tracks all over his yard.

Biologists say that in weather like this, wolves typically lay low to curl up and sleep somewhere. They're hoping that when the weather breaks the wolves will be more active outside of town, and they'll be able to take to the air to shoot them -- but in the meantime, it's just a waiting game.

Village residents and parents remain on high alert. Some of them are even on patrol carrying rifles and handguns.

Contact Jackie Bartz at jbartz@ktuu.com

---- more on the link.

[Graybeard]

In places with lots of predators stupidity has a way of weeding itself from the gene pool. Paying attention to your surroundings and being prepared to deal with an attack from whatever local critter might be higher on the food chain than you is the way to survive.

That might be in the wilds where wolves, bears or lions are the local apex predator or it might be on the mean streets of a city where the drug dealers, those without a job hungry for drugs or any other sort of two legged predator is the apex predator.

Either way being fully aware of your surroundings watching and listening for clues is the way to prevent or defend yourself from an attack. Walking along, jogging or whatever with you head up your butt blissfully unaware of what's going on around you is a short cut to a nasty end of life encounter. It happens somewhere every day. Lots of places are not the sort to give you a second chance when you walk around in blissful ignorance.

I'm sorry her young life was cut short so tragically but with the attitude that she would go jogging out there with ear buds in her ear and nothing on her mind it was bound to happen to her eventually. If not in the wilds of Alaska then perhaps in a park in a big eastern city at the hands of a mugger.

[AtlLaw]

+1 Bill.

What amazes me is that was obviously aware of the danger, talking about her friend carrying a 44 Mag and it making her feel better anbd other statements.

Obviously she, like people I see every day in Atlanta, didn't learn fast enough.

[Sourdough]

She talked of carrying Bear Spray, the question is on that day did she have it with her?  Did she attempt to use it?  Was she aware of the attack coming?  Was she able to do anything to try and protect herself?  Was she hit from behind, and never saw it coming?  These are questions that will probably never be answered.  It's just so tragic that a young life was lost in such an avoidable manner.

[Mnswede]

I live in upper northern Minnesota with wolves all around.  When I go out cross country skiing or doing anything else in the swamps, woods, and country roads of this area, I'm armed.  I haven't heard of attacks in my location, but I've seen them or their tracks when out in the woods.  I still remember a story of a guy going through the woods from his friends home to his, when he was chased by a pack of wolves.  This was in 1975, and he stated that he was lucky to have his dog with him since the dog went after the wolves and gave the guy a chance to make it to safety.  The dog paid with it's life.  I wonder how many others have come to this point and the critter lover press doesn't print it?

[oldsoldja]

Social Darwinism

[Dand]

oldsoldja - no this is out and out plain old Darwinism in its most raw form.  Nothing social about it.

So sad she didn't heed the warnings. Its easy to get lulled into a false sense of safety. I don't run but I might have taken a walk. Though with the direct warnings maybe not. 

With this event I think I'm going to be a bit less complacent. And I feel glad that I've gone hiking very discretely armed with folks who would have objected greatly had they known I was carrying. I used to feel a little sheepish about it.

[wreckhog]

Pit bulls kill more people than wolves.

[tallyho]

Pit bulls kill more people than wolves.

Yup, that's true:  http://www.dogsbite.org/blog/2010/01/2009-us-dog-bite-fatality-statistics.html

2009 Dog Bite Fatalities

    * 32 U.S. fatal dog attacks occurred in 2009. Despite being regulated in Military Housing areas and over 500 U.S. cities, pit bulls led these attacks accounting for 44% (14). Pit bulls make up approximately 5% of the U.S. dog population.3
    * In 2009, the combination of pit bulls (14) and rottweilers (4) accounted for 56% of all fatal attacks. In the 5-year period from 2005 to 2009, this same combination accounted for 70% (103) of the total recorded deaths (148).
    * The combination breakdown between the two breeds is substantial. From 2005 to 2009, pit bulls killed 82 Americans, about one citizen every 22 days, versus rottweilers, which killed 21 Americans, about one citizen every 87 days.
    * 2009 data shows that 63% (20) of the attacks occurred to children (11 years and under) and 38% occurred to adults. Of the children, 60% (12) occurred to ages 2 and younger. In all attacks, males were more often victims, 59%, than females.
    * 2009 data also shows that 38% (12) of all fatal attacks involved multiple dogs, and 19% (6) involved chained dogs. 75% (24) of these deadly attacks occurred on the dog owner's property and 25% (eight) occurred off the owner's property.
    * The state of Texas led fatalities in 2009 (5) followed by Georgia and Illinois (each with 4) and California and Virginia (each with 3). Of the Texas deaths, the combination of pit bulls and rottweilers (4) accounted for 80%.

Statistically (and yes I know, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics" - Benjamin Disraili & Mark Twain) one is more likely to be killed by lightning than wolves or dogs, or any combination of the two. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates there are 200 deaths and 750 severe injuries from lightning each year in the US.

Being attacked by dogs or wolves = Domestic (un-natural environment) vs wild (natural environment). Bad (or no) training vs. acting for survival. Being in the "wilderness" and responsible for yourself vs. being in "civilization" and counting on someone else being responsible for their animal. Being seen as a target vs. being seen as food. A way to release pent-up energy vs. a way to obtain energy (food). They are rather different circumstances, the only commonality being injured or dead humans.... 

The comparison between dog attacks/fatalities and wolf attacks/fatalities is an apples and oranges comparison... as is being struck by lightning and practically any other cause of death...

And speaking of injured/dead humans, have y'all looked at Automobiles, falls and accidental poisonings lately? These are the top 3 and are responsible for almost 70,000 dead per year with autos being the top at aprox 45,000 deaths and 2.5 million injuries.

People die and are injured in a variety of ways and situations. It is probably safer, in a practical sense, to be locked up in a maximum security prison than it is being free to roam the surface of the earth.

Not that being in prison is necessarily healthy mentally and spiritually, but it does seem that one's physical risk of serious injury or death is statistically better than when one runs around free. (Bureau of Justice statistics show that aprox 15,000 inmates die in state prisons, and about 2700 die "in custody" of law enforcement other than prisons.) So, at first glance, comparing raw numbers it does seem physically safer to be in prison or custody.

And doesn't that illustrate the simplified version of the permanent dilemma for human society - liberty vs. security; freedom vs. safety?

[Oldshooter]

OK, Say I buy the Pit bull thing, not to say that ya'll made it up! Sadly, its Prolly true! Its just another example of how "WE" are screwing things up by adulterating the natural order of things. Besides that, S.S.S. will solve both problems. And I think GB covered that in His last post!

[Sourdough]

You can quote all the statistics, likelihoods, numbers, and hypotheticals you want.  That does not change the facts or realities for the kids in Chignik Lake.  A loved and respected teacher was brutally killed and eaten by wild animals near the village.  Think how your kids would feel if this happened in your neighborhood.  These kids live with this reality everyday.  Next week it could be Grandfather, Big Brother, Cousin Sally, or best friend Lou.  Yet life goes on.  The kids walk to school, to the store, to the post office, and to friends house.  It's up to the men of the village to make the area safe, and they usually go about that in a quiet manner, so as to not make it obvious to the outsiders. 

But in the last few years the problem has gotten bad.  The wolf numbers are growing faster than the locals can control them.  Everytime the state thinks about helping, and doing a wolf control program people like PRISCELLA FARRELL of Defenders Of Wildlife, bring court injunctions to stop "Aerial Wolf Hunting" the only effective means of controlling numbers.  Makes me want to drop a few hundred wolves in her back yard. 

Was reading February issue of Fur Fish and Game.  Seems the Coyotes in the North East are crossing with wolves.  This is making for larger animals, with heavier jaws and stronger jaw muscles.  Animals capable of taking down bigger game.  How long before these Super Coyotes decide kids at buss stops might make a good meal?  They show up a few times and no one shoots at them, as they case the area.  Soft targets, easy meal, unlike Alaska how many parents in the NW states carry guns everyday?  How many people will affectively attack a Coyote with their bare hands, and drive them off their pray? 

Folks it's coming, will you be ready?