Anchorage Happenings . . . I cannot make this stuff up.

Friends of mine have “Fun Friday’s” on their blogs . . . does this one count?

I returned home tonight from a long road trip in the Alaskan bush to find out there had been another bear incident, which is not all that uncommon in the summer months.

This incident happened just a couple blocks from my house and with this tale it is oh so sad but funny as hell.  I have to look at this with that slightly off kilter approach since it is another one out of the bizarre pages from the long list of Anchorage happenings over the years.

Officers say they responded to the 200 block of Yellow Leaf Circle just after 10 a.m. when neighbors called to report a woman was chasing a bear down an alley.

This is where the story starts the unusual twist.  Almost every other story about “bear attacks” involves bears having contact with humans and sometimes there is a mauling or even death.  It is not common to hear of someone ‘chasing’ a bear. 

But in all honesty, this was the middle of the story.

The news headlines read:

Bear Snatches Wheelchair-Bound Bunny

According to KTVA channel 11’s story:

“Anchorage Police are asking residents to take extra precautions around bears after a bizarre incident Thursday morning almost a triggered a bear attack in East Anchorage.

When they arrived, they learned that a black bear had jumped into Karan Nixon's fenced yard on Orange Leaf Circle, snatching her pet rabbit "George" with its teeth.

After hearing the rabbit screaming, Nixon, who was wearing stockings, then chased the bear through several yards and down an alley.

However, the bear kept running, jumped over a fence and took off with George.

Neighbors say George was well known in the neighborhood because his back two legs were paralyzed, so his previous owner built him a two-wheeled cart to get around in.  In addition, George was in training to become a therapy pet.  Neighbors also told police they were concerned for children and other pets in the Muldoon area because that particular bear had been causing problems recently in the neighborhood, getting into trash and people's yards.

Although Nixon was not hurt in this situation, Police say they'd like to remind all Anchorage residents to keep a close eye on their pets while bears are active, especially when they are near food.”

This particular ‘wascally wabbit’, George had been featured before in his “wheelchair” on television and newspapers and it is sad that he is no longer at the large paws of a bear looking for food as the local streams have been lacking the salmon that they seek once they wake up from a long winter’s hibernation.

I’m reminded of the time my daughter lost her rocking horse in a yard sale and as the people drove down the street with the horse in the back of the pickup my daughter, in tears, ran down the street screaming . . . “they stole my horse”!

I can just imagine Nixon running down the alley screaming to the bear, “You took my George!”  The flashback is still fresh in my brain.

This bear may have decided after all of the chaos that a wheel-chair bound bunny was just not fair game and released it a bit later down the road and is making is way home on wobbly wheels . . . not likely but we could wish for that.  And the homecoming would be made for television with Nixon and George running or rolling towards each other like the beach scene from the movie “10”. 

So many possibilities . . .

But the realities of wildlife in the city looking for food and taking the easy way out, a trashcan without bear proof lid, the stream filled with fish, or the occasional pet becoming game and food for a wild animal.  The circle of life continues but with ones “therapy” dreams becoming a need for therapy to get through the trauma.

Goodbye George . . . you will be missed . . . you wascally wabbit’.

Ice