This month, millions of people around the world tuned into Fat Bear Week celebrations in Alaska's remote national parks, and fascinating livestream camera footage showed the fat predators They were captured munching on salmon and gaining weight for the winter.
But in this vast state known for its abundance of wildlife, the magical and sometimes violent world of wildlife is at your fingertips.
Several trail cameras regularly capture animals ranging in size from wolverines to moose within half a mile of the densely populated areas of Anchorage, the state's largest city. A Facebook group dedicated to animals captured on webcams has seen its number of followers increase nearly sixfold since September, when it posted footage of a pack of wolves killing a moose calf.
However, the page posted more than just gruesome footage and did not show the actual death of the elk calf. The group, titled “Muldoon Area Trail Photos and Videos,” includes hilarious moments such as two brown bear cubs standing on their hind legs and marking their landmarks by rubbing their backs eagerly on either side of a tree. is also featured.
Donna Gale Shaw, co-administrator of the Facebook group, said the 10 cameras have captured animals including lynx, wolves, foxes, coyotes, eagles, black bears and brown bears. spoke.
Anchorage is home to about 290,000 people, plus about 350 black bears, 65 brown bears, and 1,600 elk.
Joe Cantil, a former tribal health worker, said the idea for the page began when he was looking out at vast open fields from an airplane during a hunting trip near Fairbanks.
“Because we're in a secluded area, we see the animals doing the same thing whenever we're not there,” he said.
He then met with wildlife officials conducting predator surveys in Anchorage parks. He said they set up traps and three webcams and witnessed where the moose was killed.
“When I saw that, I thought, 'Yes, I can do that,'” he said.
Cantil set up a low-tech camera and captured his first animal, a wolverine. That passion sparked and led to the creation of a Facebook page in 2017.
Later, while hiking, he met Shaw, a former science education professor and associate dean of the School of Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Shaw was intrigued by his game camera and began eavesdropping on him to view the footage.
“Well, he finally got tired of me nagging him and one day he said, 'Here, you can buy your own camera,' and that's how my hobby started,” said the Texas native. said the show.
She started by tying a $60 camera to a tree. She currently owns nine cameras, seven of which are in operation at Far North Bicentennial Park, a 4,000-acre (1,619-hectare) park that stretches for miles along the front peaks of the Chugach Mountains east of Anchorage. I am.
Her cameras are set up in the Chugach Foothills area from 402 meters to 0.5 miles (402 meters to 804 meters) and she frequently posts on a Facebook group page. Cantil also posted videos from three cameras.
“I knew there was wildlife here because I'd sometimes see elk and bears on the trail, but I didn't realize how much wildlife was here until I set up my camera.” said Shaw.
She replaces her batteries and storage cards once a week, and goes into the woods to do so, armed with a horn to announce her presence, two cans of bear spray, and a .44-caliber handgun for protection. .
Many of this page's followers are Anchorage residents looking for information about what animals are currently roaming around the popular trail system. Other users have also joined in to see what the cameras have captured, including people from other states who are “enjoying watching the wildlife that we have here,” she said. Ta.
Shaw said her camera captures a wolf or two, sometimes even a pack, every few years. This year, she was surprised when a pack of five wolves silently walked in single file.
Last month, as she was collecting memory cards, she spotted a piece of elk fur on the ground across the stream from two cameras. After spotting a rough dirt spot where a bear might bury its prey, she assumed it was another moose attacked by a black bear, similar to what had happened not too far away. Ta.
But when she checked the memory card, she instead saw a wolf knocking down a moose calf, with the moose mother trying to protect her offspring by kicking the wolf away with her long legs.
The page is currently in high demand, but Shaw said the addition of cameras has been completed.
“I think the camera is reaching its full potential,” she said. “Nine is enough!”
