Man in bear costume reported harassing bears on Chilkoot River

There’s a version of this line in every story I read about the man who authorities caught donning a bear costume in Alaska: “It wasn’t immediately known what the man was trying to accomplish“.

The latest in bear shenanigans had the costumed man prancing within at least 5 feet of the spooked bear family along a Chilkoot River weir near Haines, says state biologist Mark Sogge.

Alaska Fish and Game officials witnessed the mysterious man Monday night as he harassed two sows busy with their cubs fishing for salmon about 75 miles northwest of Juneau.

Alaska Fish and Game technician Lou Cenicola moved the sow out the way for the man’s safety and then tried to talk to the man, which Sogge said is a little outside Cenicola’s normal duties.

What’s “atypical”, the majority of these results contend, is precisely what transpired next: A human, adorned out in a strength and endurance bear costume, sprinted in about five tends 10 ft of wherein the you and your cubs stayed and commenced “jumping way up and down”. “Our job is to count fish”, Sogge says. Fearing that the man will get himself in trouble, Cenicola scared away the bears and confronted the costumed visitor. That man’s arrest was captured on film for the now-canceled “Alaska State Troopers” reality TV show.

Troopers are investigating, spokeswoman Megan Peters said. “You figure it out”.

Cenicola reported that he ran toward the man to stop him, telling him he could be cited for wildlife harassment.