A male brown bear in Sitka known locally as Tum-Tum drowned at Redoubt Falls earlier this summer during a state-run research project.
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Researchers with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are currently in year two of a six-year project to count the number of bears on Baranof Island, which covers 1,600 square miles.
State wildlife biologist Stephanie Sell said in a statement Monday that research staff were capturing and collaring brown bears at Redoubt Lake over a four-day period in late July when the drowning occurred.
The five-year-old brown bear, who was highly habituated, was darted and took a trail that led to salt water, Sell said.
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She said staff made every effort to resuscitate him, including rescue breathing and CPR, without success. Fish and Game staff ceased all captures in the area immediately afterward.
Sell said it was “a highly unfortunate accident” that they don’t take lightly. However, she said, wildlife management and research come with inherent risks to both staff and animals.
“Despite the skilled and professional biologists’ best efforts, across North America, occasionally an accident occurs which results in loss of the animal,” Sell said.
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