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Siberian Tiger in Alaska

Glitch said:
No thank you. I understand the behavior and nature of bears, and can therefore avoid them and maintain a safe distance when encountering them. I have had hundreds of brown bear encounters in the 29 years I have lived in Alaska, and none of them were aggressive nor did I ever find myself having to use my firearms in self-defense. I don't know diddly-squat about the nature of tigers or their behavior, so I would prefer not to ever encounter one in the wild.
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Trick is not to go out alone and make sure that the second guy (or the slowest in the group) can't run as fast as you.

If the whole thing occurs on Apr-01, just ignore the cat.;)
 
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Glitch said:
The article does point out that wolves and tigers are natural enemies, and there are lots of wolves in my neck of the woods. So I will take it as a sign that there are no tigers in the vicinity. If Democrats ever find out about this watch how quickly the "Alaskan Tiger" gets added to the Endangered Species list. :doh
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Scientists don't just rename species just because they relocate to another area. :roll:
 
Glitch said:
No thank you. I understand the behavior and nature of bears, and can therefore avoid them and maintain a safe distance when encountering them. I have had hundreds of brown bear encounters in the 29 years I have lived in Alaska, and none of them were aggressive nor did I ever find myself having to use my firearms in self-defense. I don't know diddly-squat about the nature of tigers or their behavior, so I would prefer not to ever encounter one in the wild.
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To bears you aren't really considered a food source.

To a tiger you are lunch.
 
I bet this "siberian tiger" is one of those "shelter/pet tigers". There's an estimated 5,000 tigers in the US. Somebody probably released it into the reserve because they couldn't afford to keep it any longer. jus' guessin'
 
Jack Fabulous said:
I think you meant jaguars?

Jaguars range from South America through Central America and Mexico. Their existence in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas has been documented but extremely rare. Leopards are native to Africa, Asia, and southern Europe.
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Would they not be Cougars?

Native to the western mountain regions and sad depressing bars seeking prey
 
Jonsa said:
To bears you aren't really considered a food source.

To a tiger you are lunch.
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Depends on the bears.
I read about a photographer who was taking pictures of Alaska grizzlies. He decided that they weren't dangerous.
So, he invited his girlfriend to join him.
The bears ate them both.

Pretty smart bears: Wait a bit, and you get double the lunch.

Now, the black bears are different. They think of humans as grocery deliverers, not as lunch. Bring food into their territory, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it.
Yes, even if that means ripping the door off of a car. They are pretty strong.
and their sense of smell is phenomenal.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Depends on the bears.
I read about a photographer who was taking pictures of Alaska grizzlies. He decided that they weren't dangerous.
So, he invited his girlfriend to join him.
The bears ate them both.

Pretty smart bears: Wait a bit, and you get double the lunch.

Now, the black bears are different. They think of humans as grocery deliverers, not as lunch. Bring food into their territory, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it.
Yes, even if that means ripping the door off of a car. They are pretty strong.
and their sense of smell is phenomenal.
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I knew about that case. Frankly he was an idiot asking for it. You don't see veterans of the Alaska Bush being so idiotic. Its live and let live, not hey guys lets be pals.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Depends on the bears.
I read about a photographer who was taking pictures of Alaska grizzlies. He decided that they weren't dangerous.
So, he invited his girlfriend to join him.
The bears ate them both.

Pretty smart bears: Wait a bit, and you get double the lunch.

Now, the black bears are different. They think of humans as grocery deliverers, not as lunch. Bring food into their territory, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it.
Yes, even if that means ripping the door off of a car. They are pretty strong.
and their sense of smell is phenomenal.
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You are referring to Timothy Tredwell, and despite visiting Alaska during 13 different Summers and claiming to be an authority on bears, he was an idiot tourist from San Francisco who knew absolutely nothing about bears. On his thirteenth visit to the State the moron brought his girlfriend and then set up camp in the middle of a game trail. He had no real protection, but he did have a can of bear-spray.

Treadwell was a classic example of what Alaskans call a "Touron" = Tourist + Moron. It is usually a fatal combination in Alaska. We also had a tourist walk directly up to the face of a landlocked glacier near Seward, only to have about 10,000 tons of glacial ice calve on his empty head. He would also qualify as a Touron.

I have never heard of black bears ripping doors off of vehicles, but I have seen grizzlies using their 6" claws to pop out windshields of empty pick-up trucks in order to get the lunches that were left inside the vehicles while the maintenance crews were working.

Bears are indeed very smart, with a sense of smell equal to that of a dog, and they also have a great sense of humor. However, that doesn't mean humans should ever approach one. Bears are also terribly near-sighted. If you are more than a few dozen yards away, you appear very blurry to them. Which is why it is important to wave your arms and talk to the bear in a calm voice in order to help the bear identify you as human.

As long as you don't surprise them, pay close attention to your surroundings, and keep a respectful distance away, you should not have any issues with brown bears. Black bears are different. They are more of a nuisance than a threat. Our bear-proof trashcans are specifically designed with black bears in mind. I still don't use them, it is too tempting. Instead I keep my non-burnable household trash in a bear-proof shed and haul it to the landfill personally every 6 to 8 weeks.

I have not had any issues with bears on my property, but I have had some issues with mink and ermine. Normally they are not a problem, but if the mouse, vole, and shrew count is particular low for a given year, they had a tendency to dig into places they don't belong. I have caught them sneaking into the garage through the doggie-door and stealing dog food on a couple of occasions, and they have chewed holes into my garbage shed.
 
Glitch said:
I recently stumbled across this December 2019 article:


The article then posts the following photo:
View attachment 67287081

However, what the article fails to point out is the location of the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge covers 4.7 million acres of land located in Alaska's southwestern part of the State.
View attachment 67287082

The tiger could have only come across the Bering Sea during the Winter months when the sea is frozen, but to get that far south would have taken the tiger several weeks if not months once they entered Alaska.

As if brown bears and polar bears were not a big enough concern. Now it there would appear to be tigers in Alaska.

The article does point out that wolves and tigers are natural enemies, and there are lots of wolves in my neck of the woods. So I will take it as a sign that there are no tigers in the vicinity. If Democrats ever find out about this watch how quickly the "Alaskan Tiger" gets added to the Endangered Species list. :doh
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Unfortunately, this is an April Fools day prank from the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge from 2017.

PLEASE NOTE: Whereas it is now... - Togiak National Wildlife Refuge | Facebook
 
Glitch said:
As a result, there are no regulations concerning the hunting of tigers in Alaska.
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Even absent specific regulations concerning hunting of tigers in Alaska, the Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of any listed animal. The taking of panthera tigris is prohibited wherever it is found.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Cool shot of the tiger. The Siberian Tiger just might find Alaska a great place to live. Of course, there is the issue of it being an invasive species, but then, so are humans. It will have considerable competition from the brown bears and polar bears in the contest for the top of the food chain, but humans will still be the main danger they will have to face.
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It is not an invasive species if it migrated there on its own...
 
Bodhisattva said:
How is it an April Fool's prank if the tiger is really there in Alaska, as your source admits?
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That post is an April Fools post that was updated on April 2, 2017 to show that it was a joke. There was not a tiger in Alaska.
 
CHuDWah said:
Wait, your shed is bear-proof but mink and ermine can chew holes in it? :confused:
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Yep. The mink and ermine can get through the chain-link fence that surrounds the shed just like the mice, voles, and shrews which is their prey, and the bears can't. They are certainly strong enough to rip the chain-link fence down, but they don't. The chain-link fence went up around the shed in 2006, and other than critters smaller than a couple pounds, I've never had an issue with bears and my trash. My neighbors use "bear-proof" trashcans, and they cannot make the same claim.

I have had moose cross the fence during the Winter, but they aren't interested in my household trash. It is possible for a bear to break into the shed, but they would have to be awake during the Winter and there would have to be at least three feet of snow on ground. I consider that scenario very unlikely.
 
Glitch said:
You are referring to Timothy Tredwell, and despite visiting Alaska during 13 different Summers and claiming to be an authority on bears, he was an idiot tourist from San Francisco who knew absolutely nothing about bears. On his thirteenth visit to the State the moron brought his girlfriend and then set up camp in the middle of a game trail. He had no real protection, but he did have a can of bear-spray.

Treadwell was a classic example of what Alaskans call a "Touron" = Tourist + Moron. It is usually a fatal combination in Alaska. We also had a tourist walk directly up to the face of a landlocked glacier near Seward, only to have about 10,000 tons of glacial ice calve on his empty head. He would also qualify as a Touron.

I have never heard of black bears ripping doors off of vehicles, but I have seen grizzlies using their 6" claws to pop out windshields of empty pick-up trucks in order to get the lunches that were left inside the vehicles while the maintenance crews were working.

Bears are indeed very smart, with a sense of smell equal to that of a dog, and they also have a great sense of humor. However, that doesn't mean humans should ever approach one. Bears are also terribly near-sighted. If you are more than a few dozen yards away, you appear very blurry to them. Which is why it is important to wave your arms and talk to the bear in a calm voice in order to help the bear identify you as human.

As long as you don't surprise them, pay close attention to your surroundings, and keep a respectful distance away, you should not have any issues with brown bears. Black bears are different. They are more of a nuisance than a threat. Our bear-proof trashcans are specifically designed with black bears in mind. I still don't use them, it is too tempting. Instead I keep my non-burnable household trash in a bear-proof shed and haul it to the landfill personally every 6 to 8 weeks.

I have not had any issues with bears on my property, but I have had some issues with mink and ermine. Normally they are not a problem, but if the mouse, vole, and shrew count is particular low for a given year, they had a tendency to dig into places they don't belong. I have caught them sneaking into the garage through the doggie-door and stealing dog food on a couple of occasions, and they have chewed holes into my garbage shed.
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Ripping doors off might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but black bears can do a lot of damage. Here's a few results of googling "Yosemite bear car break in:"
(No grizz in Yosemite. They were killed off about a hundred years ago by a more dangerous predator)

480x480.jpg

bear2.jpg
bear3.jpg

lots more where those came from, of course.
 
Glitch said:
Yep. The mink and ermine can get through the chain-link fence that surrounds the shed just like the mice, voles, and shrews which is their prey, and the bears can't. They are certainly strong enough to rip the chain-link fence down, but they don't. The chain-link fence went up around the shed in 2006, and other than critters smaller than a couple pounds, I've never had an issue with bears and my trash. My neighbors use "bear-proof" trashcans, and they cannot make the same claim.

I have had moose cross the fence during the Winter, but they aren't interested in my household trash. It is possible for a bear to break into the shed, but they would have to be awake during the Winter and there would have to be at least three feet of snow on ground. I consider that scenario very unlikely.
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Ah, OK - so it's more the fence than the shed that's bear-proof. Interesting that they don't tear it down.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Ripping doors off might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but black bears can do a lot of damage. Here's a few results of googling "Yosemite bear car break in:"
(No grizz in Yosemite. They were killed off about a hundred years ago by a more dangerous predator)

View attachment 67287581

View attachment 67287584
View attachment 67287582

lots more where those came from, of course.
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Californians killed off their grizzly bears by the turn of the 20th century. In the lower-48 you will only find wild grizzlies as far south as Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and as far west as Glacier National Park in Montana. Black bears can do a lot of damage, but they are not much of a threat. As I said, they are mostly a nuisance for morons. When people find that a black bear has completely destroyed their home or vehicle, it is because they were idiots and created a situation the bear couldn't resist.

Bears, black or brown, do not break into places without reason, and their reason is always food related. Which means these morons are keeping food in their vehicles, or making it easily available at their homes (like not covering their trash when they put it out to be picked up). I have no sympathy for those fools. They deserve everything they get for their stupidity.
 
trblmkr said:
Nobody thought there were leopards in the southern US either. But there were and there are. Not many. Any quite frankly, if there are tigers in Alaska, find them, tag them, research them. Do not just kill them.
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Yes, kill them quickly. They are dangers to the local ecosystem
 
CHuDWah said:
Ah, OK - so it's more the fence than the shed that's bear-proof. Interesting that they don't tear it down.
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I have watched grizzlies tossing around permafrost on the north slope like it was beach sand trying to dig out ground squirrels. So I know they are strong enough to easily dispose of a 6' tall chain link fence. I can only conclude that bears do not like the feel of the metal links on their claws, or they would have torn it down years ago.
 
MaryP said:
I never knew you could walk to Alaska from Siberia in the winter.
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Quite easily. The distance between Little Diomedes (Alaska) and Big Diomedes (Siberia) islands is only 2.4 miles. It is about 25 miles from mainland Alaska to mainland Siberia. You can cross that via snow machine in under an hour.

There has been talk about either building a bridge, as long ago as 1969, or a tunnel. However, the talks between Russia, Canada, and the US are more along the lines of a tunnel that connects Alaska with Siberia, instead of a bridge. Russia estimates it would cost $65 billion. Recently China has offered to build a 125 mile long tunnel under the Bering Sea. Russia's tunnel would have been 64 miles, about half the distance.

Russia Plans $65bn Tunnel to America
China may build an undersea train to America

However, even if Russia or China did build a tunnel to Alaska from Siberia, it is still 522 miles from Nome to Fairbanks, and there are no roads.
 
Glitch said:
Californians killed off their grizzly bears by the turn of the 20th century. In the lower-48 you will only find wild grizzlies as far south as Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and as far west as Glacier National Park in Montana. Black bears can do a lot of damage, but they are not much of a threat. As I said, they are mostly a nuisance for morons. When people find that a black bear has completely destroyed their home or vehicle, it is because they were idiots and created a situation the bear couldn't resist.

Bears, black or brown, do not break into places without reason, and their reason is always food related. Which means these morons are keeping food in their vehicles, or making it easily available at their homes (like not covering their trash when they put it out to be picked up). I have no sympathy for those fools. They deserve everything they get for their stupidity.
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Yes, the cause of close encounters of the ursine kind is invariably stupid human tricks, usually leaving food around or actually feeding wild bears.

I've encountered black bears lots of times. Outside the parks, they're generally running away at top speed. Inside the parks, they usually ignore me and go about their business. Once in a while, they approach looking for food, then I know the tourons have been busy.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of bears in Sequoia National Park. The one actually took a couple of steps toward me and made that huffing sound bears make when they're upset:

mama bear2.jpg

What I didn't realize was I had gotten too close to this little fellow:

bear cub.jpg

As soon as I backed away, mom and baby went about their bearish business and I could take their pictures.
 
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