We then went out to visit Fortress of the Bears. This was an
unusual place, and ended up being more pleasant than I expected. The site is
located outside of Sitka in an old water treatment plant. The tanks have been
converted to cage like containers for the bears. The bears housed here are
orphaned or injured to the extent that they would not survive in the
wilderness. The current bears are all orphaned bears where the mother was killed
during bear/human conflict. If the bears are too small, they won’t survive.
Once the critical opportunity to teach bears the skills they need have passed
or the animals are used to human contact, they cannot be successfully
reintroduced. They are destroyed instead.
Fortress of the Bears is a non-profit organization that
tries to intervene and either keep the bear locally, or provide assistance in
placing the bear in a zoo in the lower 48. When we came out here, I wasn’t
expecting much, but it was pretty obvious the bears are happy here. They are
well fed with salmon and berries, the water in the areas flows naturally and
they even put live salmon in the water to allow the bears to catch them. Because the competition for food is low, the
bears tend to get along with each other and be pretty playful. I have never
seen zoo animals as happy as these guys were. I guess it is better than the
alternative.
Once finished with the bears we moved on to another National
Historic Landmark by visiting the Russian Bishop’s House. Authentically
restored to its 1843 appearance and includes many of the original furnishings
and icons. The building is one of only four surviving examples of Russian
colonial architecture in North America. The construction of the joints and
walls are interesting.
We had a late lunch at the Larkspur, which was wonderful
food, but the service was so agonizingly slow that it impacted the overall
meal. The late lunch, coupled with lots of walking meant there was no need for
dinner. We did find a cute coffee shop called The Back Door. Gandhi was hanging
out.
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