The Kodiak Police Department and state wildlife troopers attempted to scare off a juvenile brown bear that appeared near Main Elementary School on the afternoon of Friday Sept. 25. According to a Facebook post from the Kodiak Island Borough School District, the bear showed up right at lunchtime at 12:23 pm.
As a precaution, all students from Main Elementary, and the nearby Kodiak Middle School and Kodiak High School, were kept inside for the rest of the school day according to the district.
Kodiak police and Alaska State Troopers arrived on the scene at around 12:30pm. Kodiak Deputy Chief of Police Francis De La Fuente wrote to KMXT in a text message that they were attempting to push the bear back towards the Pillar Mountain area using nonlethal guns with noise making shells. However, De La Fuente said the bear disappeared into the woods between the aquatics center and the softball field on Mill Bay Road.
Kodiak police and wildlife troopers remained on the scene until around 4pm to make sure students were safe leaving school.
De La Fuente wrote to KMXT that the wildlife troopers sent a drone into the woods where the bear was hiding two different times, but they could not find a heat signature or other evidence of the bear. He said they don’t know if the bear decided to bed down in the woods or if it left the area.
De La Fuente said it’s important that people remain cautious in the area around Main Elementary, as it’s possible the bear is still there, and it could come out of hiding in the evening when there are less people around.
