Cooper Landing is having an unexpected minute of web virality.
An Instagram video of 4 dogs sparring with a brown bear on a Cooper Landing property has more than 30,000 likes, and a reposted version on Facebook has more than 1,000 shares. A USA Today article explains the video as recording an extreme “battle” in between a brown bear and dogs.
The video was taken this month on Jen Harpe’s property in Cooper Landing. She’s a dog fitness instructor, however said the dogs included in the video are her own personal family pets, and they weren’t always trained for the task.
“For the most part, it’s instinctual for these guys,” she said. “I’ve had dogs that protect the property for generations, and so one dog teaches the next.”
Harpe said the bear in the video got closer and closer to the property throughout numerous weeks, up until it had to do with 20 feet from her deck.
In the video, the bear has noticeable injuries around its neck. Jacob Pelham, a wildlife biologist out of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game workplace in Soldotna, said this bear isn’t anymore unsafe than others in the location, and hasn’t been aggressive towards individuals, as far as he understands.
Harpe’s next-door neighbor, Michelle Donahue, likewise got a see from that bear. She and her hubby initially saw it on their home monitoring electronic camera. They’re utilized to having motion on electronic camera since of the dogs next door at Harpe’s house.
“So the camera goes off a lot and we say ‘dog’, ‘dog’ just being funny,” Donahue said. “We were coming up the hill, a half mile away, and the camera went off and we said ‘dogs’ and Todd said ‘nope, bear.”’
She said it appeared like a juvenile, and she might see its injuries on video. She said for weeks, a next-door neighbor group chat buzzed with texts, caution of the bear’s place and its interest towards individuals.
But Donahue said that’s simply a part of life in Cooper Landing.
“This is where we live. We live in bear country. I think what everyone needs to do is just keep your garbage picked up, keep your yard clean, and we can all live together just fine. I think you expect that when you move where you move,” she said. “We live in Cooper Landing, we’re gonna have bears.”
Pelham, with Fish and Game, said his recommendations to homeowners is simply to eliminate all bear attractants and hope the bear proceeds.
Harpe said she never ever anticipated for the video to go viral, and she doesn’t check out any of the remarks. She said she resides in the woods for a factor.
