JUNEAU — A man accused of giving dog food to more than a dozen bears hanging around his property and scaring neighbors has been charged with reckless endangerment.
Arnold W. Hanger, 66, of Tee Harbor, north of Juneau, has been feeding bears for years, said Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Matthew Dobson.
Dobson drove to Hanger’s house earlier this month to investigate an anonymous tip and found two bears strolling in the driveway, the Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.
The bears paid him no mind, Dobson said.
“I followed them right to the house,” he said.
Troopers cited Hanger on June 20. He faces three misdemeanor counts of intentionally feeding game and one count of reckless endangerment, according to state court records.
Hanger told the trooper he lives by himself.
“He just liked having the bears around,” Dobson said.
Hanger could not immediately be reached Friday by The Associated Press for comment. No lawyer was listed in court documents.
The bears now lack a normal fear of humans and might have to be killed if they return to the area looking for food. State biologists are trying to avoid that outcome.
Dobson and another trooper said they saw six bears as they walked the perimeter of Hanger’s property. More bears were milling around near the house.
The bears seemed right at home doing what bears do — chewing things. They had torn siding off Hanger’s house and munched on his deck, Dobson said.
Hanger initially denied feeding the bears, Dobson said. But when the troopers returned with a search warrant, they found dozens of empty dog food bags, he said.
Hanger eventually acknowledged feeding the bears for a number of years, troopers said, giving them a 50-pound bag of dog food a day.
Hanger told troopers that one sow bear he had named Mrs. White had been coming to him for food for six years. She brought three new cubs to the property this summer, Dobson said.
Hanger conceded the bears had become a problem, something he wanted to fix, the trooper said.
Biologists with the Department of Fish and Game were trapping and tagging the bears. They hope to avoid killing the animals, but bears that are used to getting food from humans can be dangerous.
“There’s children in the neighborhood, and what’s going to happen if a 2- or 3-year-old bear encounters a child and feels this child might have food, or this child might be food?” Dobson said. “That’s a bad situation.”
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